I love being in the presence of the Lord. I love sitting in my spot on the couch in my living room where I pray, worship, and study God’s Word. Sometimes, I just sit quietly, overcome by the sweet joy and peace of being in the center of His presence. And often in that sacred place come tears of overflowing love, indescribable joy, and breathtaking awe mixed with sorrow and repentance for sin.
When and where do you most find yourself in the presence of the Lord? What is your response in His presence?
Perhaps you can relate to the people of the Scottish Hebrides Islands who experienced revival from 1949-1952. This revival was marked by silence brought on by the fear of the Lord. A young woman named Mary Peckham gave her account of what transpired there:
“We don’t understand silence. We don’t understand reverence. We don’t understand! We think that God is in the earthquake. That God is in the wind. That God is in the fire. But as Elijah proved, God was the still, small voice….And we in the Hebrides, we too, as we came into the sanctuary of God, fell silent. And there we were waiting expectantly…All over the congregation—the crowded congregation…out would come the handkerchiefs and the sobbing and the sighing silently in the presence of God. That is revival,” (Dannah Gresh, Habakkuk: Remembering God’s Faithfulness When He Seems Silent, p. 176).
Or maybe you can relate to Isaiah’s experience as recounted in chapter 6 of Isaiah, which was not a quiet affair. After seeing the Lord seated on His throne and hearing the seraphs calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory,” (a sound which shook the doorposts and thresholds) Isaiah could do nothing but cry out, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For 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.”
In both of these accounts, we see a similar response to being in the presence of our holy, Almighty God: a reverent fear of the Lord, a recognition of His greatness and our sin, and a need for His forgiveness.
I’m thankful that by God’s grace, He does forgive us. He doesn’t cast us out from His presence, but instead invites us in. In Isaiah’s case, a seraph took a coal from the alter with tongs and touched his mouth with it saying, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
And once his sin was taken away, Isaiah was now ready to enter into service for the Lord. Isaiah heard the Lord say, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I just love his response. Without any hesitation, and though the question wasn’t directed to him specifically, Isaiah replied, “Here am I. Send me!” He was eager to go, eager to serve the Lord, eager to be used as a tool to accomplish the Lord’s will. This eagerness makes me think of a child raising his hand, waving it about, and shouting, “Pick me! Pick me!”
The Lord accepted Isaiah’s offer of service immediately saying, “Go and tell this people…” But the message He wanted Isaiah to share was not one that would be well-received by the people. Isaiah was not about to gain any points for popularity when he began proclaiming, “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
When Isaiah heard the message he had volunteered to share, he could have said, “Actually, God, I’ve changed my mind. Go find someone else—I don’t want to do it.” But instead, he asked for clarification: “For how long, O Lord?” (v. 11a). The Lord answered, “Until the cities lie in ruin…until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken,” (v. 11b, 12a). God’s unexpected answer must have been difficult to receive and the knowledge of what the future held for God’s people difficult to bear, yet Isaiah took up his new profession as prophet to the people, obedient and steadfast.
Many times in my life, I’ve come back to this chapter with a desire to be cleansed and commissioned like Isaiah. I’ve said, “Lord, send me. I know I don’t deserve to be used by You, but if I can be of service in Your kingdom, here I am. I’m willing. I’ll go. Send me.” A while back, I came again, overcome by the plight of the unborn. I said, “Lord, I’ll be a voice for the voiceless; I’ll speak up for the vulnerable, for the pre-born. If you want to send me, I’ll go.” And the process of being sent has begun, and like the message Isaiah was sent to share, this message and task is difficult. Though there are days I want to just throw in the towel, forget the call, and take life easy, I’m compelled to continue.
Can you relate? Has the Lord called you into an act of service for His kingdom? Or perhaps, you haven’t quite had the courage to say, “Here I am. Send me!” but you feel the tug of the Holy Spirit on your heart? Or maybe it’s been a while since you last heard the Lord speak, and you don’t know what He wants to do in your life.
Wherever you’re at, I encourage you to pray and dig deep in the Word of God. Let the Holy Spirit stir up new dreams and vision to impact this generation for the glory of the Lord. Perhaps He wants to use you to be a missionary in your child’s school or in your workplace. Perhaps He wants to send you to speak words of hope and truth to your neighbors or at the seniors’ home in your community. Perhaps He wants to move you from your current situation into something totally new—something you never could have thought of or imagined. Perhaps He just wants you to return to Him in humility as your first love. The possibilities are endless with the Lord.
My prayer for each of us is that the posture of our hearts towards the Lord would be like that of Isaiah. May we bow before the Lord with humble, contrite hearts and be made clean. May we be willing to let go of our plans, our pride, our selfish pursuits, and wholeheartedly and joyfully give ourselves over to the leading of the Lord. May we put aside the safe and comfortable for the adventure of moving in step with the Spirit wherever He directs. May we today say, “Here am I, Lord. Send me!”
Blessings,
Christin
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