Yes, Lord!!

“Then 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

Why does this verse prick my heart?  I want to be one that without hesitation responds, “Here I am, send me!” when the Lord calls.  I want to be like Isaiah or like Mary who asked one question and then responded, “I am the bondslave of the Lord; may it be to me according to your word.”  However, I fear I would make excuses like Jeremiah.  Or come up with lots of reasons why I should not be chosen like Moses.  Or worse, run in the opposite direction like Jonah.

Thankfully, I know how Jeremiah, Moses and Jonah responded to the call of God because they made the Book too!  The Bible is not just full of success stories, accounts of those flawless individuals who made no mistakes, never wondered, never doubted and never feared.  Gloriously, the Bible is full of human failures, human mistakes, human doubts, human unbelief.  In summary, the Bible is full of human sin.

God answered Jeremiah’s concerns with a personal experience, and further opportunities show Jeremiah’s growth and confidence when he obeyed without question some specific and seemingly crazy instructions.  God countered every argument/excuse Moses came up with, and Moses proceeded to become a remarkable yet imperfect leader who spoke face to face with God just as a man speaks to his friend. And God demanded Jonah’s full attention in a most unlikely way, transforming a recalcitrant servant of God into an effective if volatile prophet.

How will I respond when I hear the voice of the Lord?  I HOPE with, “Here I am; send me.” Nevertheless, the story is always less about me and more about the Lord.  If He can bring a prophet from the belly of a fish, He can overcome the doubt, fear and sin of a disciple hiding behind her insecurities and rationalizations.  It is less about what I think I can do and more about what God WILL do through someone who will say, “Yes!”