Here I Am, Send Me

Good morning. Today we are in Isaiah 6.

And what a chapter this is.

There is so much here to stop and ponder over and think of and want to try to imagine.

My mind, my imagination, cannot even fully begin to comprehend what Isaiah saw.

Just being able to see God on His throne, and His train is so vast and so much that it is filling the temple—not just the room, the temple.

And then seeing the seraphim, and then hearing them, and knowing that they are so loud that their voices are shaking the building, the temple, crying out:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Armies. The whole earth is full of His glory."

I mean, we've gone from seated on a throne, to filling a temple, to shaking the threshold, to His glory fills the whole world.

And then Isaiah, I'm sure, was terrified and in awe and cries, "Woe to me, for I am ruined!"

Because being in God's presence revealed to Isaiah that he was unclean, that he was not worthy of being where he was.

And then he is cleansed with a fiery coal—or a hot coal.

Wow.

"Your guilt is taken away and atonement is made for your sin."

And Isaiah had to acknowledge—Isaiah acknowledged that he was sinful, that he had unclean lips.

And then he was cleansed.

And he—he didn't have to do anything. I mean, he acknowledged it, but then the seraphim came to him and touched his lips with this coal, said, "Your guilt is taken away," and told him atonement is made for your sin.

Wow.

And then he hears God.

He hears the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"

And Isaiah said, "Here I am. Send me."

He had—Isaiah had no idea what God was going to give him.

He had no idea the horribly hard task that God was going to give him.

He didn't lay it out. He didn't present him with a blueprint and, "Here's the ten steps on how to accomplish what I'm gonna ask you to do."

None of that.

God asked, and he responded.

I remember a place in John where we talked about that exact same thing, where God asks, and then we respond, and then He gives us our task.

Verse 10 says:

"Make the heart of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes blind, so that they will not see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed."

And Isaiah said, "Well, how long, Lord?"

And then He goes on to explain: until they are devastated and without people and the land is desolate.

And yeah, even in 13, it talks about how there will be a tenth portion in it, and it'll again be subject to burning.

And it ends with, "Like a terebinth or an oak"—I'm assuming terebinth is a type of tree—"whose stump remains when it is cut down. The holy seed is its stump."

Wow.

I have a feeling we need to remember that last line.

"The holy seed is its stump."

I'm pretty sure we're gonna see something happen with that.

Wow.

There is so much to sit with here.

Oh Lord, thank You.

Thank You for revealing who You are to us.

You've revealed Yourself to us in the New Testament as the Shepherd, and in Revelation as the conquering Christ, and here we see You in a temple in all Your glory.

Oh Lord, You are holy.

Oh Lord, may my response be, "Here I am, Lord. Send me," whenever You ask, so that the [vat?] that You built for the vineyard will be used.

Oh Lord, thank You.

Thank You for loving us.

Thank You for inviting us into doing the work You're already [doing?].

Oh, that we would take care of that well for You.

Wow, Lord.

Please just be with us as we go out today.

May we have a moment of awe and wonder today as we think about You in Your [glory?].

That's what I know I want today.

Oh Lord, it is in the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Thank you for joining me today as we wandered through God's Word with wonder.