Compelled

Compelled

This week a very good friend of mine shared her “heavy heart” with me. So much pain and suffering all around her, she felt overwhlemed.  I understand how she feels. Too many marriages crumbling, children emotionally devastated by circumstances beyond their control.  There are so many who are suffering with cancer.  I wonder “why doesn’t God just wipe this disease out with a single word?”   We see a world, cities, communities torn apart by violence or unemployment, or homelessness.  We often ask the question, “Will  this ever stop?”  Then one of you steps up to the plate, picks up her armor, and swings the bat. Hope for the hopeless. Food for the hungry.  A shoulder for the weary.  You answer the call of trial and sufferings with your available heart, your spiritual gifts, and your compassion.  By coming together and giving up your time, your resources, your money, your talents-by being generous with what God has given you, in this way, we make a glorious difference in the world around us, and in the lives of others. 

We don’t have to look far to see pain and suffering, discontent, crisis, and struggling families. Do we? While we know as Christ followers, we can have the assurance that God is so much greater than our trials (1 John 4), still yet, the suffering that surrounds us can be overwhelming

Yet, isn’t this a call to arms for us as Christ followers? If ever there was any question of what God is calling us to do, or if He is indeed calling us to do anything at all, you have only to look around you and see this, people in emotional turmoil, marriages on the brink, children impacted by our economy and family crisis, and then you must truly be compelled to say, “Here am I God, Send me!” How can we respond any other way? 

Isaiah said this in a scripture familiar to all of us in chapter 6, when with a totally contrite heart he recognized who he was in relation to who God was, and he was compelled to say “Here am I send me,”  to the question that God asked “Who will go for us?”  ( Special Note on “us-” God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.)  God asked the question “who will go?”  and then raised the stakes when He added “for us?”    Isaiah responded with a resounding yes. We should all be so sensitive to His call. One commentary I read on the prophet Isaiah said “Isaiah’s account of God’s call on his life, leaves no doubt about what motivated the prophet for the next half century.  His vision of God was unforgettable.”   Wow. 

If we do not individually and personally have a vision for missions, simply a burden for reaching out to others in need, then I would humbly submit perhaps we need to revisit our own “vision of God.”  Like Isaiah did, we should recognize who God is and who we are, and respond accordingly.  We will leave that place compelled to serve shoulder to shoulder.

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