Here am I. Send me.
Last Sunday Marianne and I were invited to attend a celebration of a good friend and pastor of another church in our town, who had been serving there for 25 years! It was lovely to see him and his wife being loved and honoured by their church! It was the ‘call of God’ that led them to Basingstoke all those years ago. Following on from that I read in the Bible how God called Isaiah...
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’ 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!’”
In this dramatic encounter, God revealed a glimpse of the heavenly realm to Isaiah. When God asked who would ‘go’ on His behalf, Isaiah responded: ‘Here am I. Send me’. For my pastor friend and for all of us as Christians the ‘call of God’ and our response are vital. When we get a revelation of God, His plans and purposes, then see that he wants to work through us it’s incredible! So what is your response going to be? Perhaps the words from the old hymn ‘When I Survey’ can be your prayer...
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader