Called By God

From My Utmost for His Highest

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ’Here am I! Send me’ —Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6, for me, is like 9/11 or the Space Shuttle Challenger.  Not that it marked a tragedy like those, but that I still remember where I was when I heard about it the first time.

It was on a recording of a Tim Keller sermon—if you’re curious, I’ll find out which one.  It was a lady reading these verses of Isaiah 6. I’d tuned out the Scripture like we often do.  I mean, I wanted to listen—I was listening to a recorded sermon, after all.  But sometimes, I just glaze over.

What pulled me out of my daze was . . .

her.  By the end of the reading, she was crying.  Nearly weeping.  It wasn’t a show—you know how you can tell someone is just trying to hold it back, but just can’t?

That was the beginning of a love affair I’ve had with this chapter for years. I love the idea of a prideful young man, with designs on the throne—the big show—meeting God in the last place he expected to encounter Him:  in church. I know that feeling of presenting unclean/unworthy in front of Him. And I can only imagine how God must have filled that temple.

As you read this chapter, I’m struck by:

1. The relationship I now have with this chapter.  As you continue to sow into Scripture, you will develop relationship with parts of the Bible, too. Yours may look different than mine, but for me, I’m overcome by the Spirit reading this and a handful of other passages. I feel something and begin to weep, a bit. No one can take that away from me because God and I have experienced that together.
2. God does the worst sales job ever and Isaiah can’t wait to go.  He begs, in fact.
3. Chambers says, “Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead with you.”

When face to face with God, as we all will someday be, those things that seem impossible, improbable, inconvenient or interminable will be our absolute pleasure.

What do you see?

I love you.

#theprophets