"Then one of the seraphs flew to me with
a live coal in his hand, which he
had taken with tongs from the altar.
With it he touched my mouth and said,
"See, this has touched your lips; your
guilt is taken away and your sin atoned
for. Then I heard the voice of the
Lord saying,"Whom shall I send?
and who will go for us?
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
He said, "Go and tell this people:
"'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull and close their eyes.
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed." Isaiah 6:6-10
How often have we heard this scripture
verse and thought to ourselves, "Send me," Lord!
We have all the gifts and abilities
necessary to complete the task. We are
equipped to do what you ask of us.
Was Moses ready when God asked him
to deliver the people from bondage in Egypt?
What about Jeremiah?
Remember Jer. 1:4-8--"The word of the
Lord came to me, saying, "Before
I formed you in the womb I
knew you, before you were born I
set you apart; I appointed you as
a prophet to the nations." "Ah, Sovereign
Lord," I said, "I do not know
how to speak; I am only a
child." But the Lord said to me,
"Do not say, 'I am only a child.'
You must go to everyone I send
you to and say whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them, for I
am with you and will rescue you,"
declares the Lord." So, in light of all of this,
remember I. Co. 1:27-29 which states:
"But God chose the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise; God
chose the weak things of the world
to shame the strong. He chose the
lowly things of this world and the
despised things--and the things that are not--
to nullify the things that are,
so that no one may boast before him."
Could it be that if we were
not "lowly," that if we were not
"wise," (by the standards of this world),
that perhaps, then, He could not send us?
Then it would be by our strength.
Then it would be by our might.
But it is not to be done this way,
but by His Spirit, "says the Lord."
Lastly, I believe that we need to realize that we are sinful.
Isaiah stated it when he said, "Woe
to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
His sin was atoned for; he was made clean;
and so can we. "Then one of
the seraphs flew to me with a live
coal in his hand, which he had
taken with tongs from the altar.
With it he touched my mouth and said,
"See, this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Isaiah 6:6-7
How many today have "sent themselves"?
I wonder sometimes. It seems that oftentimes,
our pride has caused us to think that
we are to be sent to deliver
the people from a certain malady.
I can hear the Lord saying, "There
are few that are chosen, and yet many are sent."
And yet, how many "true laborers" are
there out there? How many of us truly
do the work of the Lord,
and do not seek the rewards of men?
I know that there are some, perhaps there are many.
Do we need to wait until the "refining process"
of His Spirit has brought us unto perfection?
No, otherwise, there would be no one out there.
So, he uses men and woman just
like James, and John, and hard-edged old Peter.
Ones which He knows that He can work with.
Ones who's heart is ready, but the
process has not yet been completed.
Remember the the incredible statue by Michelangelo?
The one of the Pieta`? It is
one of the most incredible examples of
"polishing" and refinement done on a piece
of marble. Human hands, guided by the Divine Spirit,
have wrought a work of art which
surpasses most examples of anything on this earth.
But also, he did work at the end
of his life, which appears to be
done very "crudely." The figures have not quite
escaped from the rock in which they
were chiseled. The surface is still rough.
There is no "polishing" here. And yet,
there is an identification with God in
such a way, that the statue creates
a sense of reverance and awe of the Creator.
Perhaps then, this is like us; we are
"unpolished" people; we have not gone through
the entire process of refinement like Michelangelo's
Pieta`, but we are "emerging" from stone,
from the quarry which we were dug.