8 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!” - Isaiah 6:8
Many a times, we want to follow after Christ. But what does that mean? And are we "good enough"?
Reflect back on your life. How many times have we "waited" to hear a specific direction from the Lord? Perhaps we think we can only be used when we have retired? Or only those in full time ministry will hear the audible voice of the Lord? Then there are the times that we disqualify ourselves. Oh, God can't use me... I don't have the right personality/character/skills/abilities/<insert our lack here>
But have God ever sent the able? Did the heroes of the Bible have it altogether when God sent them out? Reading the bible, we see the apostles still learning as they preach to the world. Paul had to chastise Peter. David still had his faults when he fulfilled God's prophecy of becoming king. Esther had doubts till the day she spoke to the king. Jonah had unforgiveness even after he gave the message of God to Nineveh.
These examples that clearly, God isn't sending those who have the necessary tools for the job. In fact, He seems to prefer sending those who don't have the tools. So what is God really after? Isaiah has shown us the answer in his reply: God is looking for those who will say "Here am I. Send me!".
We frequently forget that God is the ruler of the universe. He has all the tools for the job. If he can create the world in 7 days, what can He not do? But God wants to partner with us. He wants His glory to happen through the faithful; those who will obey Him unquestioningly. God is looking for those who are available. The ones who is willing to follow Him anywhere and everywhere. To be used like putty in His hands.
I have uttered the same words to God many times in my life. I still do till this day. It's a blank check to God for Him to use me as He sees fit. When I first obeyed, it wasn't to do something I was good at. It was doing something I have a track record of doing badly. How weird is that?! And for the next 10 years, God kept calling me to do things that I am not good at. To do things where I had no one to depend on, not even myself. So many times I have felt out of my depth. So many times have I seen myself not good enough. So many failures in my eyes.
But that is also the time when I saw God at work in and through me. I have seen Him bless the multitudes through my inadequacies. I have seen His power, His majesty, His blessings, His glory at work. Where my hands have failed, God has picked up the slack. When I had no one to depend on, God was all I had. He work in powerful ways; making my work not just satisfactory but very successful. I've seen Him provide. I've seen Him sustain. 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts - Zech 4:6b
In the end, the question to us is still the same: will you go? Nothing else matters, not our strength nor our weaknesses. Not the skill or knowledge we have nor the failures that have happened in the past. When God comes and meet with us, the only question He asks is the same that Isaiah heard. Will you go for God? To live completely for Him; obeying him in everything regardless of who we are and where we are heading? Will we simply, obey?
