“Send Me”

How many times do we feel impure? Do we recognize that we are sinners? How often do we believe that what we have done is unforgivable? The prophet Isaiah recounted a vision in which he saw the Lord lifted up high on a throne and surrounded by angels as His train filled the temple. The sound of His voice shook the foundations of the building. Before this spectacle, Isaiah was afraid because, in his words, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5, NIV). Isaiah recognized that in his impurity, he was not adequate to stand before his Creator. But because of God’s mercy, an angel took a live coal with tongs and approached the prophet. I want to dwell on this detail. Why didn’t the angel take up the live coal in his hand? Maybe for the simple, logical reason that the ember would burn. Yet the angel did touch the live coal to the lips of Isaiah.

If someone is burned, it hurts. We all know that.

That is why I find it striking that in verse 7, the angel says, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (NIV).

This makes me think of those painful situations in life that we do not understand —those times that “burn” yet help to purify and improve our characters, just as gold is refined when passing through fire. We see God’s mercy toward us in allowing difficult times to help us grow in Him. When we are purified through God’s mercy and forgiveness, as was Isaiah, we can have certainty in accepting the call of God when He asks, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” We can answer with total security, “Here am I. Send me!”

Cecilia Nanni