• By Eugene Rutabagaya

Isaiah 6:8 : And I hear the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ?”

Following Judah’s rebellion against God toward the end of the reign of King Uzziah in the eighth century (see Isaiah chap 1-5), the Lord was looking for a Servant that he would send to go out and warn his people about God’s discontent and imminent retribution, if they would not repent and turn back to their creator. An apparent dialogue of the deaf had taken place between God and his people.

Have you ever tried the experience of suffocating air with your mouth in a pipe packed with mud ? The air will never cross through. So is difficult for a person immersed in sin to hear the voice of God, and this is exactly what was happening between God and elected people, the house of Judah. Darkness had closed in upon them and they became insensible to the voice of God.

Things changed for better when Isaiah received the grace of pardon, after confessing his sin in his vision of the Lord. He heard the voice of God seeking a Servant to send, and responded. He accepted to be the Servant the Lord was looking for, without further discussion or complaint.

Let’s remember that being a prophet in the time of Isaiah was a thankless job, rather than a desirable one. This did not prevent him from accepting that challenge wholehearted. A state of mind free of sin will be always prompt to embrace God’s ministry, and bear the challenges that go with it.

Before we minister to others, we must permit God to minister to us. Before we pronounce “Woe” upon others, we must say : “Woe is me”. Only a sincere confession of sin will enable the hearing of God’s voice in your life, and in your calling for ministry.

Today, more than ever before, our nation desperately need God, and God is looking for a servant to send to the nation to proclaim his oracle. This servant may be YOU. The Bible says in Mathieu 9:37 that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Can you hear his voice today ? And can join the very thin club of God’s envoys ?

In Jesus.