Send Me!

Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, ‘Whom can I send? Who will go for us?’ So I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!’” (NCV, emphasis added).

This is actually the most popular “Here I Am”. When Isaiah heard God’s voice, he responded, “Here I am, send me.” The story of my conversion is from this story. Sometime in August 1995,

 I was in a program at the time University of Lagos in Nigeria at the time. A man of God was ministering and at the end of his ministration, he made an altar call. I did not respond to the altar call because I was still brooding on the powerful sermon. Even right now, I can see all the people that responded to the call. They took them to the back to take their details.

However, he closed the service by singing the hymn, “Here I am, send me. Here I am, send me. As the Lord needs somebody, here I am send me.” And he walked off the altar. The program ended, and people were leaving, but I could not get up from my seat. I was weeping and was saying to God, “Here I am, send me!” I was the only one left in the hall, it was now close to midnight. That was the turnaround of my life. That was the day of my conversion. I did not respond to the altar call, but I responded to the heavenly call. And my life has never remained the same. God has sent me to places I never thought I would go. God sent Isaiah to places he never thought he would go after he said, “Here I am, send me.” 

When God says, “Who will I send?” He is not saying it so that you can suggest. Imagine, Isaiah was standing there in the company of angels, Cherubim and Seraphim before the Almighty God. Then God says, “Who shall we send? Who will go for us?” Remember that Isaiah had just seen how wretched he was. It was not easy really. But have you ever wondered who sent Isaiah to volunteer? Why did he volunteer? Think about it. The truth is, when God says, “Who shall we send?”, He is actually talking to you. If you hear, “Who shall we send”, as you are hearing it even now, it is you God is talking to. 

I heard it clearly right there in the UNILAG chapel, I had no doubt that it was me. Imagine your dad comes home from work, and you are the only one in the living room. Then he says, “Someone should take my shoes to the room for me.” What do you do? Do you say, “Dad, let me find someone to help you”? Interestingly, sometimes we are in an evaluation mode; Oh, that is a very deep question, Lord. Or we are in study mode; Lord, let’s unpack the several layers of this very interesting statement.  But you have not responded to the question, “Who shall we send?”

Prayer (hymn): Here I am, send me. Here I am, send me. As the Lord needs somebody… Amen!