“Here am I.” It’s a well used statement made by many great people of the Bible when called by God. In Genesis 31:11 when God summoned Jacob, he answered, “Here am I.” and so did Abraham in Genesis 22:1. In I Samuel 3:4 the young Samuel answered God’s voice with, “Here am I.” And when Isaiah was being commissioned, he also replied to God’s call with, “Here am I.” There’s so much meaning within those three little words. It says, “It doesn’t matter what You have for me to do, great or menial, I’m happy to serve You Lord.” It also says, ” I desire to do Your Will Lord, not what I want.” Three little words of submission that force us to set aside ourselves, pick up our Cross, and follow Him.
Tag: isaiah
Isaiah 48:17 ” This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”
God wants only the very best for us…the most excellent, most productive life we can live…filled with the greatest satisfaction we can ever experience. Just like the old TV show, “Father Knows Best”, our Heavenly Father really does know what’s best for us. And we will discover it also as we allow God to teach, lead, and guide us.
Isaiah 1:16-17 ” Take your evil deeds out of My sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
The premise of these verses is pretty simple…stop doing wrong, learn to do right. In other words, practice the truth…doing the right thing when you see injustice happening. But this is usually where fear jumps in and stops us from becoming involved. We know what the Lord would want us to do…but stepping into an unknown situation can be scary. But if we do choose to walk away, God sees it as indifference and blatant disregard for the oppressed. The Lord has called all Believers to champion the causes of the vulnerable among us. Let’s not allow fear and doubt to stop us from practicing the truth.
Matthew 10:28 ” Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. “
To paraphrase Isaiah 8:12-13, Do not follow the ways of the world…do not accept the world’s viewpoint…do not fear what they fear. For their fear is based on the temporal…of secular and fleshly concerns only. But as Believers, we have the blessed assurance of eternal life, so there is no fear of death its self. For it tells us in I Corinthians 15:42-44, ” So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” The world may kill our physical body, but it can’t take our soul. For only Satan has the power to devastate both body and soul in the place of the lost and condemned.
Isaiah 41:13 ” For I am the Lord, your God, Who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
Let’s say you land in a foreign country, having no knowledge of the city or its language. But there waiting for you is the leading dignitary. He welcomes you and then informs you that he personally will be escorting you around the city. All the pent-up fear and anxiety within would melt away as he guided you to his official car…for you would feel safe and secure with this help. The world is a scary place to live today, and we all feel like foreigners in a strange land. But God is like that dignitary…offering His hand in support and encouragement. Calming and assuring us that He is there to help. For anything can be faced with trust in the Lord…anything.
Psalm 51:10 ” Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
I listened to a song the other day…its title a declaration that a lot of us might not say with any conviction…”I am ready for the Storm.” Now I realize that it’s not if but when trials will come into my life…but to proclaim that I’m ready for them gives me pause. So how can I prepare? The Psalmist here shows us that it’s the daily renewing of our heart and mind that will enable us to do this. Our faith is renewed and given new life daily…ever-deepening, ever-increasing, as we put more and more of our trust in the Lord. This divine restoration is spoken of in Isaiah 40:31, ” But those who put their hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” So I may not like it, but I can now say with certainty… Yes Lord, with Your help, I’m ready for the storm.
II Samuel 7:18-19 ” Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: ‘Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in Your sight, O Sovereign Lord, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant.’ “
The Lord calls you to do His work and instead, you balk. You feel incapable, inept, and unfit for the job. Wonderful! You’re in great company! Here King David, a man after God’s own heart, lamented…”Who am I Lord to be used by You?” When God called Moses, all he could do was make excuses and ask, “Who am I?” (Exodus 3:11) Isaiah, when called, could only fixate on his own sinfulness and unclean lips, not on what God was commissioning him to do.(Isaiah 6:5) Jeremiah tried to justify not obeying the Lord by claiming he was too young to preach. (Jeremiah 1:6) And Ezekiel when called, just got angry. (Ezekiel 3:14) Realize that you are not alone when you feel unworthy and unqualified for the plan God has laid out before you. He would not have called you if He wasn’t absolutely certain you were the best one for the job. Please understand that the Lord isn’t asking you to do it alone…He’ll be with you every step of the way…He’s only asking for your obedience.
Jeremiah 31:34 ” No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.”
Isaiah gives a vivid picture of this knowledge of the Lord in Chapter 11, verse 9 when he says, “For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” All mankind has the opportunity to experience the Lord in a personal way…to have intimate fellowship with the Creator of the universe. For you can be “told” about God all your life, but it’s not until you fully grasp what Jesus did for you on that Cross…dying so you may live…that you can really “know” Him. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8
Genesis 49:10 ” The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until He comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is His.”
This Messianic prophecy is of Jesus coming to rule and reign over all the people of the world…both Jew and Gentile. This is also shown in Isaiah 49:6 where it says that Jesus is coming not only to Israel, but to the Gentiles…”that You may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” It’s not that there’d be a continuous reign by the descendants of Judah…only the promise of the permanent right to rule…this being in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And at that time He will say, ” Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear.” (Isaiah 45:23)
Luke 4:28-29 ” All the people in the Synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way.”
Jesus was back in His hometown of Nazareth…the place where He had been brought up, and where everyone knew Him and His family. We find Him on the Sabbath in the Synagogue where someone handed Him the scroll of Isaiah to read from. He read from Isaiah 61:1-2 …( Which was Jesus’ exact job description here on earth) and then sat down. Everyone spoke well of Him until He uttered 8 words, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” No wonder the people were furious! All they could see was Mary and Joseph’s little boy…and now He’s daring to claim to be the Messiah! Their minds refused to believe…their hearts were hardened by pride…their eyes were blinded to His Deity. Their long-awaited Messiah had come and was in their midst…yet they rejected Him.
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