God did not address the call to Isaiah; Isaiah overheard God
saying, "Who will go for us?" The call of God is not for the special
few, it is for everyone. Whether or not I hear God’s call depends upon the
state of my ears; and what I hear depends upon my disposition.
It is not a question of God singling out a man and saying,
"Now, you go." God did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah
was in the presence of God and he overheard the call, and realized that there
was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom, "Here am I,
send me." Get out of your mind the idea of expecting God to come with
compulsions and pleadings. When our Lord called His disciples there was no
irresistible compulsion from outside. The quiet passionate insistence of His
"Follow Me" was spoken to men with every power wide awake.
Call is ongoing. It is not history. It is not just event. It
is process. It starts with an event, but becomes process. It requires a mind
attuned and ears unstopped to be able to hear to respond relevantly. The call
of God goes out every morning with the first rays of sunshine across the dew
laden grass. It hides in the whisper of the wind in the trees, and bathes in
the soft evening sunlight. Those who have eyes see, and those with ears hear.
Isaiah was able to hear only after king Uzziah died and he
saw the glory of God. Sometimes it requires our dependancies to be disconnected
to allow us to see. And when we do see, we become aware of a whole world
previously unperceived. A world of need, of hurt and pain that is crying out
for restoration. The need travels from the heart of God to the heart of man,
and the heart of man responds freely.
For us the call came from Luke 4: 18 in which it is written
that He came to preach good news to the poor. It was very difficult to justify
work among the rich once we have listened to this verse. We resigned jobs in a teaching hospital to
move here in Manali. For different people different things will burn into their
brains indelibly and can never be forgotten.
They move us to respond.
The response to call should not stop. Just like the sun does
not stop or the moon become bashful and hide the rest of the month. How attuned
are we to these calls as each day proclaims them? And what is our response? Let us listen well to hear well.
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