Isaiah. 6:8

"Also 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. 6:8

I received a call the other day! It went something like this: "Rev. Pun, this is your dentist's office. We just want to remind you of your appointment at 10:00 AM tomorrow." I knew it was a call because my phone rang. I know it was from my dentist's office because I knew I had an appointment for a check up tomorrow. Besides that, the dentist's phone number and name appeared on my caller ID. There was no doubt that at 10:00 AM tomorrow I must be sitting in the dentist's office ready to be tortured by the dentist! Did I tell you that I hate going to the dentist?

Don't you wish that God's call was as easy to discern? It would certainly take the questions out of Christian life. The phone rings and you look at the caller ID unit. "God" it says and gives His number. With a bit of fear and trepidation you answer. "Edwin", this is God's office calling.

At 10:00 AM tomorow the Father wants you to be at the corner of Connaught Road and Pedder Street, where you will meet a man by the name of "James." He will be wearing a red shirt and blue slacks, you won't miss him! Tell him that his wife will be OK and his daughter, she has been missing for three weeks, will call him at 7:54 PM tonight. She will ask him for a bus ticket home."

"Not likely," you say. You are right. It would be nice if God's call was that clear, but perhaps by studying some of His calls to simple people like you and me, yes, Isaiah and Jeremiah were both simple men, we can become more clear when He calls us.

Isaiah's call is rather straightforward. "Whom shall I send?" If Isaiah was in a crowd, he might have turned and looked for volunteers. He did not feel that he was particularly special. Just moments before, Isaiah had feared for his life as he saw the presence of God. "Woe is me. I am an unclean man. I shall surely die in the presence of the Almighty," is how we can translate his words. The angel of the Lord placed coals from the altar upon Isaiah's lips and cleansed him. Isn't it interesting that the coals were placed upon his LIPS and not his HEAD? Isaiah's head did not need the cleansing. The lips comprise the doorway to the soul, his soul needed cleansing, and the cleansing of the lips symbolized the cleansing of the soul. (Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.") Still, Isaiah did not feel all that confident before God.

But when the call came, "Who will go for us?" Isaiah did what he knew God wanted. He replied, "Here am I. Send me!" What else could he do? No one else was around, except the angels. The call was not to them. He was the only one who needed to respond. He didn't know where God would send him, the request was for someone to volunteer without doubting, to trust completely. He didn't say, "I'll go where ever you send, just as long as it isn't to that joker of a northern king." Or "I'll go as long as you don't want me to do something that I have not been trained to do." He simply answered, "Here I am. I'll go for you. I'll be your ambassador to wherever you send me." Thus Isaiah began an incredible journey into the heart of God.

When God calls you, and he will if He hasn't already, you will most likely have doubts. "Who? Me?" "Where are you wanting me to go? I have to know that so I can weigh my options." "You mean you want me to go, but You are not going to tell me where? How do I know I can trust You? You might send me to Indonesia or Pakistan or some other dangerous place."

"Who will go for Us?" God calls again. How will you answer? Are you ready for an incredible journey, a journey into the very heart of the Father Himself? Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.