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 go get
something for them? It gave you a feeling of usefulness, didn’t it?
That one act made you feel like you were a 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 a trust in you
to safely make a trip in the family car.
All of these feelings (being a contributor, being considered as
responsible, and being trusted) are assets that most everyone
desires, if the truth were known. These are character traits
that contribute to our self-esteem and give us a feeling of worth.
So, how can we achieve the same feelings when we are in adulthood?
Achieving college degrees, getting a good job, being a mother and
managing the home, are just a few of the ways that can make us feel
valuable. However, there is one more opportunity with great rewards,
and it is – serving the Lord.
Imagine the exhilaration of realizing you are doing something for the
God of the universe! In a world that is 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 on to do things that will
benefit others which 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.
This was not the case with Isaiah, and it shouldn’t be the case
with any of us. When asked, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah didn’t
wait for his name to be called – he volunteered! As soon as he
‘signed up’ for service, the Lord explained what needed to be
accomplished. Look at this verse; it implies that Isaiah was
ready for the ‘long haul’ if needed:
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,
“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:
What about you? Have you answered the call from the Lord?
Have you volunteered to accept His challenge? How are you
serving the Lord right now? If you are not serving Him, when
do you plan to start? Don’t you want to hear Him tell you
“Well done!” when you step into eternity?
If you are serving Him, is it a sacrificial effort, or is it only when
it is convenient for you and fits into your personal schedule? Do
you set personal limitations for how long you will serve Him, or
have you committed to an open-ended length of time determined
by the Lord, and not you?
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.
Why is that?
It could be that we mistakenly relate God’s will to bad things.
When Jesus prayed,
“Yet not as I will, but as you will”
and
“may your will be done”
Submitting to God’s will meant Jesus
would go the cross and suffer for our sins.
When Job was suffering 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. All that
he had was in God’s hands, 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, when we do
that, we are overlooking all of the blessings that are part of His
will. The good things from God are everywhere.
As an example, think of the food, clothing, and shelter He provides.
Yes, 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 a part 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 be willing to be
used by God in whatever way He has chosen for us (we need to realize
that He has equipped in advance of His calling us to serve).
Think about this:
If we have no Master, then we are masters of ourselves (‘self’).
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 that will be our master (we are slaves to it).
It is 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 do not
choose Christ, then by default, we have chosen ‘self’ (including
sin and Satan). That may sound harsh, but it is reality, isn’t it?
When we choose Christ, we have become slaves to the Master
who is full of love, and the One who cares about us, and has
concerns about 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 they could have been enjoying. It is the cold reality
of ‘paradise lost’. Jesus tells us about someone in hell.
“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 with the gifts You have given them to
use. 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 to do so that 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.”
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