I said, “Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:8 (NLT)
Have you ever read Isaiah 6? Isaiah comes face to face with God’s glory. He’s caught up in the praise and worship and responds by surrendering to God when God says “Who will go?” Have you ever done this? Been so moved by the awesomeness of God, so infected with his love that you tell him you’ll go anywhere or do anything. Send me! Send me! I’ve asked God to send me. I am sure you have too!
BUT
When God asks us to go talk to our neighbor, we offer excuses. “God, I don’t know them. I’m not good with strangers. I don’t want to intrude.”
When God tells us to go visit someone in the hospital, we say things like “God, I’m not good with sick people. They might not want visitors. They might want privacy.”
When God says go spend time with your friend today, we think of all the things we have scheduled and how long it will take us and we opt not to be sent.
If we won’t follow his leading in our community, how do we expect to be willing to “be sent” on bigger missions? If we won’t walk next door, how will we move to another state or another job?
I really, really want God to send me. I want to be on mission for him. But I am coming to realize that first I need to surrender to what he has for me to do today. When he says go, I need to go. No excuses.
My mission needs to start in my own little corner of the world. It needs to start by obeying God wherever and however he sends me. Each and every day.