Misinterpreting Scripture – Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send?And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
This is a wonderful Bible story. The prophet Isaiah finds himself, miraculously, at the throne of God. After seeing the angels worship God he cries out that he is unclean and so are his people. An angel then touches his lips with a hot coal and tells him that his sins are forgiven and atoned for. But the part we know the best is what happens next. God wants to send someone to deliver His message and Isaiah famously responds with “Here am I. Send me!”
Guilt trips have been laid on many believers by missionary groups who claim that if you want to serve God you will also volunteer to go out and spread the gospel in foreign countries…and wouldn’t you know it – that speaker just happens to know a good mission trip for you. (If you haven’t run into this, count your blessings.)
There is a problem with this approach, besides the obvious fact that Christians shouldn’t lay guilt trips on each other, that is that foreign missions have nothing to do with the work of Isaiah. A few verses later we see that God is asking Isaiah to preach to his own country and that they will not even listen to him. Reading the rest of the book we see that the prophet does not travel anywhere but stays put and advises the king of Israel. This pokes a big hole in the “Isaiah 6:8 means everyone has to be a foreign missionary” theory.
Did you read the entire chapter? I didn’t think so.
In this situation, “Here am I, send me” meant prophesying to a stubborn local population. For you, it could mean traveling to a far away country, volunteering at church, or taking care of elderly relatives who have no one else. Let’s discover these things on our own and not allow a guilt trip to lead us.
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I definitely agree. I think our calling is to a “willing heart.” That way, to use the cliché, we’re not putting God in a box. That seemed to be Isaiah’s heart too. He was struck by God’s presence and then blessed by God’s forgiveness, so he was like, “I’ll do whatever the heck You want me to do!” I’m sure this attitude is most pleasing to God and is a greater demonstration of faith. Good post.
That’s great, it’s always good when a fellow Christian blogger agrees with me!
Does that not happen a lot? 😉
I agree with both of you! 😉
“Did You read the whole chapter? I didn’t think so”…. HAHAHA I LOVE IT!
-Jeff
Great job Adam… I loved my time at DBU but never involved myself with the BSM for that very reason. I got so sick and tired of being villified for not signing up for every mission trip they took overseas… truthfully I have a hard time with putting lots of money towards short term missions and feel we should be training up long term and preferably indigenous missionaries who will go to whatever country, whatever nation… and proclaim the Gospel.
I think a far more amazing theme through that passage is Isaiah’s pure awe of a Holy God. We consider so much Isaiah’s cry that we overlook other important lessons such as the angels surrounding Him… the meaning of their wing locations… the implications of the train of His robe filling the temple…
I noticed the same thing at DBU. Fortunately, our President, Dr. Cook, had a well balanced view that everyone’s calling was of equal importance.
Is not the point that the missionaries make based on the servant example of Isaiah in this passage? They’re trying to convince their fellow believers to support them by giving up what people. In general, have the hardest time giving up: money. If used properly to point to Isaiah’s heart as an example of how we should respond if we hear The Holy Spirit calling us, I think it is totally appropriate as a passage for them to use. The Lord calls some here and some there, and our response should always be like Isaiah’s, one of eagerness to answer. I sympathize with your annoyance at how some will use this passage to bully you into responding to their call. I also sympathize with the enormous pressures of someone out on the mission field, who works hard for The Kingdom each day, but needs the financial support of others to keep doing so. Those others are often so far away they forget them completely. I think that many Christians serve as a part of that service by supporting those missionaries. If that is the case, that “take me” attitude is just as relevant as they serve in a capacity to which God has called them. If the missionary is using this text therefore as an example of how our attitude should be in response to God’s call, foreign or at home, I don’t think it is out of context at all.
Yes, I’m only discussing here those who take the verse to mean that every person who does not go the a foreign country to preach is a bad person. That teaching must be put aside so that we can approach mission work with the best biblical understanding.
Amen, brutha! Hehe