Papa JoeMac's Corner Commentary - #69
Isaiah's Commission (When God Calls, Go!)
- Isaiah 6
LORD – SEND ME, I’LL GO!!! (ISAIAH 6:8)
That, friends, is quite a commitment!!!
Often, we think “if God calls me to a certain task or ministry, He’ll send His angels ahead to touch the hearts and soften those that I am to minister to….”
Well, some of us think that way anyway – or used to before we actually ‘answered the call’ and found that some are not as excited to receive God’s message as we are to deliver it!
Isaiah was told by God straight up - go and prophecy – AND the people are not gonna listen to you!
I’m not sure how I would have reacted. Would I have taken the defeatist attitude at the get-go?
Isaiah was given a difficult mission. He had to tell people who believed they were blessed by God that God was going to destroy them instead because of their disobedience.
How would we have accepted Isaiah’s message if we would have been one of the folks he was preaching to?
Ever notice that we read the Bible and we nod our heads in self-righteousness when we read a verse where we feel we are in step with the Lord? Ever notice that when we read a verse where we know we are OUT OF STEP with the Lord, feelings of rebelliousness flare up?
It’s called disobedience! Think it’s OK to tell little white lies so you bristle up a bit when you read that God detests liars? Think it’s OK to cheat a little bit on your taxes or school projects and then you get upset when you read in the Bible that we are to work as if we are working for Jesus himself? Hmmmmmmm. See what I’m getting at?
The same that is true with our nature today was true with the people of Isaiah’s day.
Isaiah gave the people a lofty view of God in 6:1-4. He gives us a sense of God’s greatness, mystery, and power.
Isaiah’s example of recognizing his sinfulness before God encourages us to confess our sin.
His picture of forgiveness reminds us that we, too, are forgiven.
When we recognize how great our God is, how sinful we are, and the extent of God’s forgiveness, we receive power to do his work. God will see us through – He just doesn’t promise us an easy ride!
How does your concept of the greatness of God measure up to Isaiah’s?
In Isaiah’s time, moral and spiritual decay had peaked! It was important for Isaiah to see God in his holiness. The same is true for us today.
The leaders of our land have rap sheets that range from extortion to solicitation of sex in airports! We, as Christians, must keep our eyes fixed on the Holiness of God! The folks in Isaiah’s time had lost that vision. But yet, interestingly, they thought they were “blessed by God” just for who they were!
Holiness means “morally perfect, pure, and set apart from all sin.”
We also need to discover God’s holiness. Our daily frustrations, society’s pressures, and our shortcomings narrow our view of God. We should not allow that to happen. Only when we realize our true being in comparison to God do we even begin to understand what Christ did for us!
We need the Bible’s view of God as high and lifted up to empower us to deal with our problems and concerns. God’s moral perfection, properly seen, will purify us from sin, cleanse our mind of our problems, and enable us to worship and to serve.
Seeing the Lord and listening to the praise of the angels, Isaiah realized that he was sinful before God, with no hope of measuring up to God’s standard of holiness.
When Isaiah’s lips were touched with a live burning coal, however, he was told that his sins were forgiven.
It wasn’t the coal that cleansed him, but God.
In response, Isaiah submitted himself entirely to God’s service. No matter how difficult his task would be, he said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”
The painful cleansing process was necessary before Isaiah could fulfill the task to which God was calling him. Before we accept God’s call to speak for him to those around us, we must be cleansed as Isaiah was, confessing our sins and submitting to God’s control.
Letting God purify us may be painful, but we must be purified so that we can truly represent God, who is pure and holy.
The more clearly Isaiah saw God (6:5), the more aware Isaiah became of his own powerlessness and inadequacy to do anything of lasting value without God. But he was willing to be God’s spokesman. When God calls, will you also say, “Send me”?
Or will we continue the rebelliousness towards God because of our own sins?
When He calls, will you go?
Lord, send me, I’ll go!!
I have heard ministers talk about their being God’s 3rd or 4th choice and I’ve always thought that was a lack of self-esteem on their parts but I’ve come to understand what they meant. I’m slow on some things.
But, I’ve learned that God’s plan will be executed – with or without me.
When God calls us and we refuse “to go”, God will choose someone else.
God will not be denied. When God calls you out to do a certain service, we often have no idea where in the line we are! We could be His 1st choice or His 10th, but God will find someone willing to do the task.
When God calls – go!
If God told Isaiah that the people would listen but not learn from his message because their hearts had become hardened beyond repentance, then why did God send Isaiah at all?
Because although the nation as a whole would reject Isaiah’s message, God knew that a “remnant” (holy seed) of faithful followers would listen. Remind you of our country today? Our nation (as a whole) is rejecting God. We allow the minority to have the 10 Commandments removed. We allow the minority to have their way with getting prayer thrown out of sporting events. But there is a remnant that is faithful.
I’m in that remnant. Are you? If not, join me. Keep your eyes fixed on God’s Holiness. Be open to His call.
When would the people Isaiah was preaching to listen? Only after they had come to the end and had nowhere to turn but to God.
Geez, sound familiar to ya? I’ve been there. There have been times in my life that the only time I acknowledged God’s existence was when I had exhausted every avenue that I could think of! That was the problem – right there staring me in the mirror! Me!
When will you listen to God? Does it take total chaos in your life such as Judah experienced before you will listen to God’s words?
Consider what God may be telling you, and obey him before time runs out.
The people of Isaiah’s time could have been rescued by his words. Instead, they refused to believe him.
We who are part of Isaiah’s “future” can see that many of the promises God gave through Isaiah have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
We also gain the hope of knowing that God is active in all of history, including our own.
When urged by the Holy Spirit, will you go? Helping at church with a project, calling on the sick, visiting a jail, collecting can goods, singing in a choir, teaching a Bible study, etc.
Many, many calls are issued. Which one will you rise up and tell the Lord, “Send me, I’ll go”?
Or, will you allow God to pass you over as He goes and prompts His “second choice”.
Be active; not passive. Be an Isaiah!!
- - - Mr. Joseph Mcklemurry received his Masters in Biblical Studies with Trinity Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana and is an ordained minister serving as a praise and worship leader with Beautiful Feet Church in Fort Worth, Texas. |
