Send Me

Isaiah 6: 7-8:
"He touched my mouth [with it] and said:
Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed,
and your sin is atoned for.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
Who should I send? Who will go for Us?

I said: Here I am. Send me."

During a vision, the Lord comes to Isaiah, and brings along some of the Seraphim (mighty angels - these are not the cherubic float-around-on-a-cloud-playing-the-harp kind!). Isaiah is frightened because he knows he isn’t clean enough to be in God’s holy presence, but one of these mighty heavenly beings flies to Isaiah and touches his lips with a coal taken from the altar in the temple. This heavenly creature tells Isaiah that his wickedness is removed and his sin is atoned for. Isaiah is cleansed the way that we would be cleansed by Christ’s death on the cross hundreds of years later. This is the reason why he is able to remain in God’s presence, just as we are able to be in God’s presence because Christ’s blood cleansed us. I know I’m not clean enough or good enough on my own, but when I chose to follow Christ, I became a new creation. Not perfect like Jesus, but new and now actually capable - through Christ’s power - of being obedient to him.

Once Isaiah is cleansed, God asks who will go for him, to do his work and deliver his message. I think it’s great that He gives Isaiah the opportunity to volunteer for the job, and thereby show some appreciation. Isaiah is so grateful to God for cleansing him, and probably also for not smiting him dead because of his uncleanliness, that he wants to do whatever it is God wants done. Notice that Isaiah volunteers for the job before he even knows what it is! Whatever it is, he’s ready and willing. “Send me,” he says!

I like that God gives Isaiah this chance to thank him, to serve him. He has a zillion ways he can get his will done; he doesn’t need Isaiah. And I love that Isaiah jumps in there ready to go, ready to serve. Am I that willing? I have certainly received that same gift, of being cleansed, having my “wickedness removed”, and my sins atoned for, and that allows me to have a relationship with God. I should be just as eager as Isaiah. But am I? Are you?