“Here am I. Send me!” — Isaiah 6:8
I tend to associate Isaiah’s words with the people who go—the people who move overseas and share the gospel in unreached parts of the world. And yet, his words find a home in my heart, too. More and more often these days, my heart cries, “I want to be useful. Use me, God!”
I’m slightly afraid of what those words will entail. They will require unfamiliar and uncomfortable steps. They will most likely demand a certain amount of courage.
However, the fear abates in a sense of adventure. I want something new. I desire to find a way to be useful, used, and used up for the glory of God and his kingdom. A life spent being used by God and in service to others seems like the best and most fulfilling calling of all.
The thing is, I don’t know what that calling looks like. I find myself out in Abram’s desert or Elijah’s wilderness. Perhaps I feel a little bewildered and lost. At the same time, I don’t feel that way at all. God showed Abram and Elijah where to go next; surely he will do the same thing for me as I trudge through the desert and remain faithful to the work already entrusted to me.
For now, I work, and I wait. I pray. I let God know my heart, which is probably the scariest thing of all. Learning to trust God like a child again is no easy thing, and yet it rewards the most joy, the most delight. I discover that when I give him my heart and run in his ways, God continues to enlarge my heart. He gives me a capacity and a desire for more, and God always brings that “more” about—Creative Missions last year, an Advent devotional for Courageous Storytellers this year…
Who knows what comes next? I certainly don’t, but I don’t have to. God has everything under control, and as long as I continue to pray, “I want to be used. Use me,” I’m pretty sure God will.
Image: Mitya Ku (Creative Commons)
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