“…Send Me!”

“…Send Me!”(Is.6:1-9a).
Today our focus is on Isaiah who was called to become a prophet. Isaiah’s call happened within the precincts of the temple. When Isaiah saw God, seraphs were flying around God’s majestic throne saying to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.” This was an important reminder at a time when both statesmen and religious prelates had kind of forgotten that “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…”
Such kind of forgetting necessitated a “re-membering” that God alone is “the Holy One of Israel” who must punish his rebellious people (Is.1:2); but will afterward redeem them (Is. 41:14,16).
The visible signs that the glory of the Lord is undermined in a nation is lack of justice and righteousness, the nation becomes deaf and blind etc!
Isaiah’s call like any other call is indicative that when God wants to do a new thing, he uses human agencies. All this talk of “only God can save us” without commensurate decision and action is like making ridges in a garden annually. This year we turn the ridge into a furrow and next year the furrow becomes a ridge, ad infinitum!
Isaiah’s call pattern also teaches us that God does not call perfect beings, because he knows there is none. Isaiah was awed and dismayed that his eyes had seen the Almighty. He was dismayed because whoever saw God was expected to die. Isaiah recognized that he was a man of unclean lips living among people of unclean lips; yet he was privileged to see the Lord.
However, a seraph flew with a live coal taken from the alter and touched Isaiah’s mouth, declaring, “…your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” The live coal taken from the alter where sacrificial animals were burnt symbolises “continuity.” The alter of sacrifice will still be useful in the new dispensation, but a new kind of sacrifice would be made for all humanity, once and for all in the person of Jesus Christ.
God in Christ takes us as we are, not on the basis of what we have become. He takes us as we are to make us what he wants us to be. We are taken and purified!
God’s call often need our collaboration. Our response and readiness are important. The voice of the Lord asked,“Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” It is only when Isaiah responded, “Here am I. Send me!,” that the Lord commissioned him, “Go and tell this people…” of Cameroon: Repent from corruption, injustice, oppression, suporession, marginalization, discrimination, nepotism, favouritism, wickedness, witch-hunting, immorality, idolatory…Repent and return to the Lord!
As the Isaiahs of today are commissioned to tell us what we are not ready to hear, but we should of necessity listen to them and respond to the demands of the Lord for the purpose of our restoration and redemption!
Prayer: Lord Almighty, you alone are Holy. All the earth is full of your glory. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev. Babila Fochang.