January 14, 2012 - Somebody Needs to Do Something

     I've learned, as have so many parents, to call out a specific name when I need help.  If I say, "Somebody, come set the table, dinner's ready," Nobody usually answers because Everyone assumes Somebody did it.  
     So many factors play into what we hear God calling us to do and what we're willing and unwilling to do for Him. Because Zacchaeus sat at his own table with Jesus, he repented of his greed and thievery.  The rich young ruler asked for a specific answer but didn't like what he heard and walked away.  
     And the prophet Isaiah?  Why did he respond to a general call for volunteers?   Why did he say, "Here am I. Send me!"  when he, with his unclean lips, stood among those who were with God around the clock?   He wasn't qualified to speak in God's behalf like the winged seraphs who sing in unbroken praise of His holiness, was he?  Wouldn't some other being, one from the Heavenly Sound and Lighting Effects Department, or Gabriel, from the Heavenly Messenger Department have done a better job at convincing the Israelites their nation would soon end? 
    And above every other excuse Isaiah could've made, was the big:  God didn't call him by name, letting him off the hook if he chose not to volunteer.  God put out an all-call for an unknown mission Isaiah could have ignored . . . . . if he weren't in the Presence of the  Lord Almighty in His glory.  Isaiah forgot all the other qualified beings around him, making himself available and it changed what Somebody did for God.

In the year that King Uzziah died, 

I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, 

and the train of His robe filled the temple.  

Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings:

With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, 

and with two they were flying.  

And they were calling to one another:

'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 filled with smoke.

'Woe is 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.'

Lord, sometimes I want to disappear into the crowd of people who can do it better than I can.  Sometimes I want to throw my hands over my ears and pretend I didn't hear Your question: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"  When those times come, Father, refresh my vision of You in Your holiness contrasted with my woefully unclean heart.  May I see You alone and remember that all things are possible with You.  Fill my heart with such love that I can't NOT answer Your call, even if You don't call my name specifically.

In the Name of Jesus Who answered the Father's call: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"  

Based on Isaiah 6