You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
8 Also I
heard [shama`] the voice [qowl] of the
Lord, ['Adonay] saying, ['amar] Whom shall I send, [shalach]
and who will go [yalak] for us? Then said ['amar] I, Here am I; send [shalach]
me. KJV-Interlinear
8 Then I
heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go
for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" NASB
The Temple filled with smoke preventing the view of the Lord, Isaiah now hears His voice. Just because we cannot see God, does not mean that we cannot hear Him, and in our case we hear God through His written word. No one in our current day can hear the spoken voice of God ... unless they have missed taking their medication that is.
Christ poses a simple question and counsels Himself. 'Whom shall I send?' God is in no need of advice from anyone. He knows everything. This counsel is for our benefit as well as that of Isaiah.
God uses prepared believers. Prepared believers are those who have advanced to some level of spiritual maturity. Mature believers are not perfect. We saw Isaiah's reaction when he saw the glorified Christ, but then none of us are perfect. Our first orientation in life is to come to an understanding that as people none of us have anything to boast about. Isaiah understood this principle.
Isaiah spoke up and volunteered without hesitation. It is an honor to be called upon by God to participate in any way which God chooses to use us. God doesn't need any of us of course, but He does utilize us in this life as an active part of His plan.
The people in Judah were in general anti-God. They were not interested, so God was going to give them a message, a message of ignoring them. They have ignored God for so long, and they have been warned time and time again, but the vast majority were indifferent toward God. Now their time was up and God was going to turn His back on them.
It is not a good thing for your life if God turns His back on you and basically does with you what you (as a negative person) are doing toward Him, namely becoming indifferent toward Him, and remaining indifferent. God is the only one who holds our life together. None of us can do that for ourselves. If God stops doing that for us, then our life literally falls apart and the jungle of the world has its way with us.
Go into a large city and walk alone down a dark alley night after night, in a high crime area, and see how much control you will have over your own life. The odds will be against you. In this life you live in that dark alley when you ignore God in your life. The odds are far worse for you.
But God will send a prophet yet one more time. Isaiah is prepared, and Isaiah's preparation gives him courage. He will tell it like it is. Note too, that Isaiah was not a great person. He himself stated that he was a mere sinner, like everyone else in this world. God does not send those who would be great, but those who would be humble and prepared spiritually.
The message of the messenger is not of the messenger, but of the one sending it. The message is from God in all things that are spiritual. Isaiah will not invent the message from his own imagination.
The messenger God chooses is prepared because he pursues preparation with an insatiable hunger for wisdom. God does not use those who basically ignore their spiritual lives, or those who invent their own version of a spiritual life. Everything spiritual must be done in conformance with Gods plan, not mans.
2 Cor. 2:16
16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? NASB
No one legitimately goes forth in delivering any message from God unless God sends them. The legitimacy of their appointment becomes clear in the content of their message.
Rom. 10:15
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!' NASB
Any person who is alive on this earth can potentially be a messenger from God. Perhaps it will be to teach millions, perhaps it will be to teach a single child. Both are infinitely important. But neither messenger will function properly unless they themselves learn the message and that message is the content of the Word of God, of course.
You cannot teach what you do not know. You cannot invent Gods will, but you have to learn it through a daily study program combined with your residence in fellowship and function in the spiritual life.
To ignore these things will, sooner or later, get for you, Gods back, and then who will help you?
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