BIBLE PASSAGE:
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)
MEDITATION:
When you were a kid, did one of your parents ever ask you to get
something for them? It gave you a feeling of usefulness, didn’t it?
That one act made you feel like you were an important contributor
to the family.
When you were older and could ride a bike, you may have been sent
to the store to get some bread. Once again you felt like a contributor,
but you also felt a sense of responsibility. They were depending on you
to come through for them – to bring home the bread.
After you got your driver’s license, you may have been asked to help
in new ways. In addition to being a contributor and having a sense of
responsibility, you felt good when your parents showed their trust in
you to safely drive the family car.
All of these feelings (being a contributor, being considered as
responsible, and being trusted) are assets that most everyone
desires, wouldn’t you agree? These are character traits that
contribute to our self-esteem and give us a feeling of worth.
So, how can we attain the same feelings when we are in adulthood?
Achieving college degrees, getting a good job, being a mother and
managing the home, are a few ways that can make us feel valuable.
However, there is one more opportunity with great rewards, and it
is – serving the Lord.
Imagine the exhilarating feeling of realizing you are doing something
for the God of the universe, our Creator! In a world full of egotism
and selfishness, finding servants who are willing to consider others
ahead of themselves is rare. Most people want to do the things that
will benefit themselves; things that are immediate and are visible to
others.
It is hard for some to imagine being called to do things that will
benefit others but may never have any visibility. But, when we
realize the One we are really doing it for (the Lord), it takes on
an entirely new meaning – we feel good about who we are. God
calls many men and women to be His ambassadors, but sadly,
there are too many who refuse to answer His call.
Why would we refuse to do what the Lord wants and equipped
us to do? Equipped? Yes, He has equipped us by blessing us with
a spiritual gift when we received His salvation. His salvation? Yes,
when He rescued us from sin, He was saving us from a destiny of
eternal punishment, so it was His salvation of us.
One of the primary reasons for our refusal is our selfishness, right?
We want everything to be about us, and God wants everything to be
about Him and pointing others toward Jesus. If we reject His call
for us to serve, what does that indicate about our appreciation for
the enormous blessing He has given us – salvation?
We might not think of our refusals as selfishness, but think about
our reasons for not serving Him out of a heart of gratitude for how
He rescued us.
“I don’t have the time, I’m too busy with other things”
“I’m not capable of doing what He wants me to do”
“I don’t have the financial stability to be obedient to Him”
But the truth is, if God wants us to serve Him (and He does), He
will not only provide the time, but will help us manage our time
better for other things. God knows our capabilities because He
created us, so He will not ask us to do anything that He knows
we can’t accomplish.
If it involves anything financially, God has given us the opportunity
to prove He will provide, when we obey His command to tithe. We
can see another reason for ‘returning’ a tenth of all He has given us.
Not only does ‘tithing’ show our love, trust, and obedience, but it can
also create confidence in us that we are fully prepared to serve Him.
Isaiah answered God’s call, and we should do the same. Isaiah didn’t
just answer His call, he volunteered!
When asked, “Whom shall I send?”
Isaiah said, “Here am I! Send me.”
As soon as he ‘signed up’ for service, the Lord explained what needed
to be accomplished. And how did Isaiah respond? We can see that he
was ready for the ‘long haul’, if that’s what God wanted.
Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
(Isaiah 6:11)
Isaiah didn’t set limitations for himself, but he wanted to be
‘fully sent’ by the Lord, and to be obedient to Him based on
God’s parameters, and not his own. He didn’t create any
restrictions for himself but expressed his desire to be ‘usable’
by God, for as long as God deemed necessary.
Isaiah must have anticipated the special blessings he would
receive for serving the Lord, and he probably had a desire
to hear the Lord say to him at the end of his journey of
service, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things;
I will put you in charge of many things. Come and
share your master’s happiness!’
(Matthew 25:21)
ACTION:
We should ask ourselves these questions:
– What about me?
– Have I answered the call from the Lord?
– Have I volunteered to accept His challenge?
– How am I serving the Lord right now?
– If I am not serving Him, when do I plan to start?
– Do I want to hear Him say to me, “Well done!”
when I step into eternity?
– If I am serving Him, is it a sacrificial effort, or is it only when
it is convenient for you and fits into your personal schedule?
– Do I set personal limitations for how long I will serve Him, or
have I committed to an open-ended length of time determined
by the Lord, and not by me?
When Jesus taught us how to pray, He included the phrase,
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”.
Chances are that many of us may say the words, but are not
committed to what ‘His will’ might mean for us. If that’s the
case, then our prayer isn’t sincere, is it?
When Jesus prayed,
“Yet not as I will, but as you will”
and
“may your will be done”
He was submitting to God’s will, even though it
meant He would go to the cross and suffer for our sins.
When Job was suffering physically and lost everything,
including his children and livestock, he praised God.
“he fell to the ground in worship”
(Job 1:20)
Then he said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I
shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD”
(Job 1:21)
Basically, Job was saying that he came into the world with
nothing and will leave the same way when he dies. Job knew
that all he had, were blessings from God, so they were under
His control and His will.
When Joseph’s brothers were jealous, they sold him as a slave.
Years later when they came to him (not knowing it was him) to
buy grain during the famine, Joseph said to them,
“I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!
And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with
yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives
that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there
has been famine in the land, and for the next five years
there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me
ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and
to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
(Joseph 45:4-7)
In each of these instances, we might assume that when God’s
will is involved, bad things will happen, However, if we do
that, we are overlooking all the blessings that are part of His
will. The good things from God are everywhere and we see
them more clearly through unselfish eyes. Tough times will
amplify God’s presence in our lives.
As an example of His provisions, think of the food, clothing, and
shelter He has given us. These are within His will because He has
given them to us. Our health, our abilities, our relationships with
others (and with God) are all parts of His will.
When we pray, “Thy will be done”, we are acknowledging His blessings,
and at the same time, we are making a commitment to allow God to use
in whatever way He has chosen for us (we should never forget that He
has equipped us in advance of His calling for us to serve).
Think about this:
If we have no Master, then we are masters of ourselves (selfish).
Is that a good thing? No, it isn’t. If we are servants of ourselves,
then we will find that ‘self’, sin, and Satan will become blended
together as one, and become our master (we are slaves to them).
It’s a choice we must make to serve either Christ, or Satan. If
we choose Christ, we have made a good choice, and as a result,
we will receive the reward of a blissful eternity. But if we don’t
choose Christ, then by default, we have chosen ‘self’ (including
sin and Satan). That may sound harsh, but it’s a reality, isn’t it?
When we choose Christ, we have become slaves to the Master
who is full of love, the One who cares about us, and the One
who has concerns regarding our present, and our future.
But when we choose ‘self’, we have defaulted to becoming
a slave of Satan, who is bent on our destruction, which will
result in an eternity filled with an unimaginable pain, both
physically and emotionally.
Why would those in hell suffer emotionally too? Because they
know their physical agony is a result of their own bad choices,
and it has caused them to miss out on the paradise which they
can see others enjoying.
Imagine an eternity of suffering while being able to see
what we could have been enjoying. It is the cold reality
of ‘paradise lost’. Jesus tells us about how someone in
hell could look up and see what they missed out on.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him
to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In
Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham
far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father
Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this
fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime
you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things,
but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides
all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place,
so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can
anyone cross over from there to us.’
(Luke 16:22-26)
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for trusting those who are willing
to serve You using the gifts You have given them. Like Isaiah, I
want to be sent by You. Also, like Isaiah, I don’t want to serve
You for a brief period, but I want to commit to whatever time
You choose to use me. Thank You for Your promises to bless us
when we are willing to sacrifice the things we selfishly want so
we can complete what You have called us to do. Calling me to
serve You, gives me an opportunity to show my love for You
through my actions, and I don’t want to disappoint you by
saying, “No” when You call me to serve.”
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