Isaiah the prophet was called to plant seeds for the people of Israel to clearly follow their God, but his awareness of their sin blocked his own sense of confidence in this role. But God had a special vision for Isaiah that made all the difference! We know that we are sent to plant seeds for His harvest. All God asks is that we say, along with Isaiah and the Israelites, “Send me!”
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, sitting on a throne, and the train of His robe was filling the temple. Above Him were worshiping angels, each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet and with two they were flying. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe to me! I am doomed! I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. Yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the angels flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away. Your sins are forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!” Isaiah 6: 1-8
The Hebrew word hineni (here I am), was spoken to God by Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, Moses, and Isaiah. In each case, the patriarch or prophet did not know what was expected. So as they spoke it, they were saying to the Lord, “I am ready. I am prepared. For whatever.”
This phrase was also spoken by God, both times in Isaiah:
Here I am, doing a new thing! When it springs up will you be aware of it? I am making a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43: 19
You will cry for help and I will say, “Here I am.” Isaiah 58: 9
He is God. He has no need to get prepared for whatever He Himself has planned! But He knows that we want to hear this from Him. When we need a miraculous way, or when we reach out to Him with a cry for help, we can be sure that He has been ready for us from the beginning of time. He is there for us, whatever is urgent or essential. He is here within us, showing us the way, comforting our heart and quenching our thirst.
This vision of the holiness of God was not given at the very beginning of Isaiah’s ministry as a prophet and priest to the people of Israel. In the first five chapters, God had been making it clear that a day of reckoning was coming for them. He had been filling Isaiah’s eyes with clarity regarding the depth of the sins of His people. He had been filling his heart with sorrow at the lengths to which He would go to get their attention. Judgment and destruction were what Israel deserved. So when Isaiah was in the temple preparing the people’s yearly sacrifice for their sins, he was confronted with the reality of the holiness and awesomeness of God and he knew that they were doomed. But God did a very special thing, He visually confirmed their forgiveness of sin with a coal from the sacrificial fire. It changed everything for Isaiah. He was freed from his sin. He was freed from the burden of that sin. He was now ready. He said, “Here I am. Send me!”
When God asks you, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” What will your response be? You have confidence in your forgiveness. Will you be ready and prepared for planting the seeds He asks?
Pray for God to open your eyes, remove the smoke and give you a clear vision for what the people He is sending your way need from Him and from you.
Almighty God, here I am. Send me. Amen.
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