8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: (Isaiah 6:8-9).

In chapter six Isaiah has a vision where he sees God high and lifted up on His throne and the train of His robe fills the Temple. He is surrounded by angels worshipping God.

Isaiah feels totally inadequate, broken, and ashamed of his sinful self being in the presence of God. He is a “man of unclean lips”, but instead of being condemned he is met with God’s cleansing. An angel comes and purifies him atoning for his sin by “touching his mouth with a burning coal.”

Then he heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” It doesn’t say the question was directed to Isaiah, but make note of this, the one who hangs out in the presence of God will hear God’s voce. Then Isaiah said, “Here I am, send me.” So, does Isaiah know where God is calling him to go, no. Does he know when he will return, no. What’s God asking him to do, Isaiah doesn’t know. Will he one day come home alive, Isaiah doesn’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Isaiah wasn’t responding to a specific assignment, he was responding to the sovereign King, and that must be true of us too. Do we obey God’s Word because we like what it says, or do we obey because of who God is? What he asks of us is irrelevant in light of His Majesty!

Christ didn’t come to earth searching for our approval or to improve his popularity and acceptance, read the Gospels many people couldn’t handle the truth. In John Chapter Six many of the disciples left Jesus. “So, Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:67-68),”

God is not a buffet, where we choose what we like reject what we don’t. We respond to God’s voice the same as Isaiah did, “Here am I, send me” do as You wish. As I have said before, we must teach and preach the whole counsel of God, but this shows us we must obey the whole counsel of God.

Prayer, Dear God, open our ears that we may hear. Open our eyes that we may see. Open our minds that we may understand, and empower us to always obey Your voice, In Jesus’ name, Amen.