Send Me

“Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ I said, ‘Here I am. Send me.’” Isaiah 6:8

This verse shows up smack dab in the middle of some pretty extreme circumstances. The chapter opens as the prophet Isaiah is caught up in a heavenly vision of the Lord in His temple. He sees these 6-winged seraphim who cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!” Isaiah’s thoughts? “It’s over. I’m doomed. I’m a sinful man with filthy lips.” Then the seraphim does something unusual. He takes a coal from the altar, touches Isaiah’s lips, and pronounces him forgiven.

Just when Isaiah thought he’d seen it all, he overhears a divine conversation. It goes like this: “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

To think that God needed a messenger and Isaiah, a self-proclaimed sinner, would be the one to volunteer for the mission. “Here I am,” he says, “Send me.” Easy enough. Well, not so fast. The rest of this chapter is spent telling Isaiah in no uncertain terms that these people are not going to listen.

Here’s the thing. When God calls us to a task, it’s not up to us to assess possible outcomes. It’s our job to obey. It’s not, “Here I am. Send me…but what if they don’t listen?” There are over three billion people on the planet who are unreached with the gospel. I bet a few of those live in your neighborhood or show up for family dinners.

It’s not up to us whether or not they respond to the gospel. It’s only up to us whether or not they ever hear it. What would you do if you heard these words: “Whom should I send as a messenger to these people? Who will go for us?”

Perhaps God needs a messenger in your neck of the woods. You may be a sinful man (or woman) with filthy lips, but you’d be in pretty good company if you just said, “Here I am. Send me.”