Reading
Isaiah 6:8-13

8I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

9He said, “Go, and tell this people,

‘You hear indeed,

but don’t understand.

You see indeed,

but don’t perceive.’

10Make the heart of this people fat.

Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their heart,

and turn again, and be healed.”

11Then I said, “Lord, how long?”

He answered,

“Until cities are waste without inhabitant,

houses without man,

the land becomes utterly waste,

12and Yahweh has removed men far away,

and the forsaken places are many within the land.

13If there is a tenth left in it,

that also will in turn be consumed,

as a terebinth, and as an oak whose stump remains when they are cut down,

so the holy seed is its stump.”


Devotional

In the Old Testament we see that Isaiah speaks of God’s coming judgment. God tires of his people’s disobedience and sends Isaiah with the harsh message: “You have a choice: Go on not seeing and hearing or turn from your wicked ways and be healed.” He has now become qualified to hear the Lord’s voice first hand. 

The prophet knew that the task before him was unattractive. The message would not be easy listening to those around him, a message of judgment against sin as well as the promise of salvation.

God’s voice called out “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Did Isaiah have a moment when he held back, reconsidered, waited to see if some other volunteer might step forward? We don’t know. What we do know is that his voice broke the silence. Isaiah’s response was clear and unambiguous: “Here am I. Send me!” 

The voice of God still calls out for those who will be sent in his name with a message of good news in the face of helplessness and despair. Today, many who are reading these devotions will feel the inner prompting of God’s Spirit and also say, “Here am I. Send me!”