One of God’s prophets in the Old Testament had a life-changing vision. While the people of God were in rebellion, He chose Isaiah to see a vision of His throne room in heaven.
Isaiah 6:1-13 (NASB)
In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts… Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts… Then 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 is looking on and hearing a conversation of the Godhead. Overwhelmed with the scene in heaven, Isaiah cries out that he is unfit even to be in the presence of God Almighty…a terrifying experience!
But then he hears something. He hears a conversion within the Trinity. ”Whom shall I send…. Who will go for us?” The Lord is not speaking to Isaiah. No, the prophet just overhears the conversation. He speaks up….. “Here am I. Send me!” Send me to those people who are rebelling against You. Send me to those people who completely disregard You, Lord! Send me to “seek the lost”. That is the picture of what the Church is to do. We are to volunteer to our God to Go for Him, and speak for Him.
One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something–possibly a rock– protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. “If I can just hang on until help comes,” he thought. He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can’t swim. – Paul Harvey
Jesus said He came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” He made great efforts to go after people who were lost to God and being destroyed. Jesus commanded His Church to go and do the same. Do you offer yourself for that work? Are you responding like Isaiah with , “Here am I. Send me!” He is worth it.