Sometimes a phrase from the Bible chases me down the street like a meth-house pit bull. This week I can\u2019t get away from the last words of Isaiah 40:9 \u201cSay to the towns of Judah, \u2018Here is your God!\u2019\u201d Aren\u2019t these the words we long to speak to our towns? To those in the sin-fog of small town addictions or lost in the bright emptiness of affluence.<\/p>\n
I desperately want us (the church here) to be able to say to the hopeless \u201cHere! Here is your God!\u201d Not, \u201cHere is another group of religious folks huddled in a corner.\u201d Nor \u201cHere is a cool church with a great worship band and lattes in the foyer.\u201d As is often the case, my longing has turned into an inarticulate prayer\u2014an ache toward God.<\/p>\n
I just flat-out don\u2019t know the answer to the ineffectiveness of the church. I know all the usual answers. Greater holiness! More prayer! More cultural relevance! More good works! Back to the Bible! Forward to revival!<\/p>\n
But in the midst of all this theological chatter, I remembered there is another place where the bold word \u201cHere\u201d is used. In chapter 6 Isaiah answered, \u201cHere am I. Send me!\u201d when he heard God ask, \u201cWhom shall I send?\u201d<\/p>\n
We should not underestimate the power of the word \u201cHere.\u201d We are often tempted to think of how we will serve God somewhere else, at another time, or in different circumstances. In many ways it easier to surrender our future to God than our present. To get to God\u2019s \u201cthere\u201d we have to give him our \u201chere\u201d.<\/p>\n
I still don\u2019t know the answer, but I think these two \u201cheres\u201d are connected. I think we have to say the first \u201chere\u201d to God if we are ever going to say the second \u201chere\u201d to our towns. I want to make certain I am standing before God and, with all that is within me, saying, \u201cHere am I. Send me.\u201d I can\u2019t say much else. Other words fail.<\/p>\n
But I am certain there is power in being fully present to God. Power for our lives, power for our churches. Power to say to the world, \u201cHere is your God!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes a phrase from the Bible chases me down the street like a meth-house pit bull. This week I can\u2019t get away from the last words of Isaiah 40:9 \u201cSay to the towns of Judah, \u2018Here is your God!\u2019\u201d Aren\u2019t … Continue reading