Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”  Isaiah 6:8  NIV

We talked yesterday about how the Israelites messed up over and over again.  The book of Isaiah begins with describing the rebellious nature of this nation.  We looked yesterday at the scripture passage detailing some of the things they were doing that were bringing judgement and the wrath of the Lord down on them.

Today in this scripture passage, Isaiah is called to speak to the Israelites.  God is angry with His people.  They have fallen into unrepentant sin and have hardened their hearts against Him.  He tells Isaiah that he is about to bring total destruction on them and calls Isaiah to go and prophecy to them.  He tells Isaiah that they will hear but not understand and see but not perceive.

Have you ever tried to speak to someone about what Jesus Christ means to you and about what He has done in your life?  Have you ever felt that your words were falling on deaf ears?  Well Isaiah is called to talk to these people and God assures him that these people will hear but not understand.  He all but tells him that it will be a waste but he wants him to do it anyway.  Isaiah knows what a bad spot the Israelites have gotten themselves into.  He knows that God is extremely angry with them.  So when God asks who will go, he could have said, “give me a minute and I will try to find someone for you.”  He could have said, “send Bob or Joe or Tim or anybody but me.”  But Isaiah answered the Lord’s call.  He said “Here am I.  Send me!”

So my question for you today is this.  Are you sitting there asking God to please send someone else? If you may recall Moses begged God to send anyone but him to deliver the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.  He pleaded with God to send someone other than him.  But God knew even before Moses was born that Moses would be the one to lead his people out of slavery.  God had a plan for Moses’ life.  This is why he was spared death when Pharaoh was killing all the Hebrew males born during the time of Moses’ birth.

God also has a plan for you and for me.  Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knew us before He formed us in our mother’s womb.  Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God knows the plans He has for us.

God knew before Isaiah was born what He would be calling him to do. And I have a news flash for you, he knew before you were born what you would be called to do.  You have often heard me say that God does not bring us to salvation so that we can sit around and look pretty and wait to go to heaven.  He brings us to salvation so that we can lead others to Him.  We are told that we are to make disciples of men.

I am retired from a law enforcement career.  My husband is a police officer.  My step son, whom I dearly love and consider my son without the step, is a police officer.  He also served in the military prior to becoming a police officer.  I am so proud of him but I would have chosen a much safer career for him had it been my choice.  You see police and military are those strange kinds of people that run toward the shots being fired while normal people tend to run in the opposite direction.  We love that adrenaline rush and the excitement that comes from being in the middle of a dangerous situation.

Now my son’s girlfriend, whom I also dearly love, is in the medical field.  She plays an important role in diagnosing what we have messed up when we get injured.  Her job is so important, but it is not something that I could do.

Firemen run to a fire when most people try to get out of it’s way.  So you see what I’m saying, right?  Different people have different desires when it comes to a career.  Not everyone is called to be in the military or law enforcement.  Not everyone can handle being in the medical field.  Not everyone wants to be a teacher or an accountant or an attorney.  We are all called to different careers.

Now as Christians, we are all called to go forth and bring others to Christ.  We are called to spread the gospel.  We are called to do this even though it may fall on deaf ears and blind eyes.  We may even be called to someone whose heart is hard and calloused.

Now God gives us all free will, so Moses could have just sat down and refused to go to Egypt.  But eventually, with God promising to send his estranged brother Aaron to help him, he reluctantly agreed to go.  Isaiah, on the other hand, eagerly responded to God’s call.

So what about you?  What is God calling you to do?  If you are reading this and scratching your head and have no clue as to what God wants you to do, then let me tell you something.  You need to draw closer to Him.  He has a plan for your life.  If you don’t know what it is, then you may not be spending enough time with him.  You need to make reading the Bible and praying a top priority in your life.  You need to do this every day, not just when you need to make that 911 call out to God.  If you draw closer to Him through Bible reading and prayer, I assure you that He will make his plan for you abundantly clear.

Maybe he wants you to serve at a local charity. Perhaps you are to teach children in a Sunday school class.  Maybe He has put you in a job you hate to bring others to Him while you are there.

Years ago, I had a job that I loved that eventually turned into a job I hated.  Our entire administration had some major turnovers and we went from being an agency where we felt that the higher ups had our back to an agency where we felt that the higher ups were stabbing us in the back.  I begged God to remove me from that job.  I applied at many different agencies with no success.  I broke down and asked God one day why he left me there to suffer.  He made it very clear that I was there to spread the word to anyone who provided me with even the tiniest opportunity.  So that’s what I did.  If anyone brought up religion, church, or Jesus, I spread the word.  God blessed me by helping me to love my job again.  He protected me from the evil at the top of my administration.  Two years later, he allowed me to move on to another job that I truly loved and I stayed there till I retired.

You see, we have free will.  We have a choice.  We can answer the call that God has for us.  We can follow his plan and be happy and at peace or we can follow our plan and be miserable.  I have learned that when God calls me to do something that things go much better for me when I step up and answer the call.  God blesses me when I say “Here am I. Send me!”

Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work for the good for those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  This is an awesome promise.  My prayer for you today is that you draw close enough to God to understand what He is calling you to do, and that you follow through and do it.  You will be so glad you did!

Have a great day!