The Toughest 5 Words You'll Ever Say

"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!'" (Isaiah 6:8)

What was the most difficult thing you ever had to say to someone, beloved? For a lot of us it was two little words: "I'm sorry." For others perhaps the toughest words to get out are: "Will you marry me?" For still others, those in supervisory positions, it might be: "You're fired."

But for Isaiah the toughest words he ever spoke came about as the result of something he had just admitted about his own life. You see, when he first was given a vision of the glory of God filling the temple and the angels crying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!" his response was to acknowledge his own sinfulness and that of the people of Israel.

"Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isaiah 6:5)

It is tough enough for us to admit that we are sinners, beloved, and so very easy for us to forego any willingness to serve the Lord because of our utter unworthiness. What is so amazing and so very much indicative of the depth of God's grace is that of the very one who had just acknowledged his sinfulness before Him, God asked the question: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?" How could holy God possibly want sinful people such as we are to represent Him in this lost world and carry His message to its people? Yet that is precisely what He does again and again!

So there you have it, beloved! And still for so many who have been touched by God's grace and who know the sweetness of forgiveness and of peace that passes all understanding, it is for some unknown reason yet a struggle to say as Isaiah said: "Here am I. Send me!"

So what are we missing here? There is yet in this passage one other declaration that makes all the difference for us. One of the seraphim in Isaiah's vision took a coal from the altar with tongs and said to him as he touched his lips with the hot coal:

"Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven" (Isaiah 6:7)

Between our realization of our utter sinfulness and God's seeking for a messenger, beloved, stands His amazing grace, ever willing to take the coal from the altar of His holiness and purge us without and within. Cleansed, forgiven, restored, ready to serve and now those 5 tough words are made easy. In fact, they become the only possible natural response to God's grace in our lives!

HERE I AM, LORD! SEND ME! And He will, beloved, He will. He will send you to those in your life who need His love and mercy just as you do. And He will give you the opportunity and the courage to speak His love into their lives just as that love has been spoken into yours. All you have to do is be willing to go. "Here am I. Send me!" The toughest 5 words you can't help but speak!

Ron