"It’s awesome that God has called you into missions--but I don’t think it’s ever going to happen to me."

Have you ever felt that way? Most of us have at times. Other people sign up for an InterVarsity Global Project, or tell us they’re going with I-V Link for a two-year term to who knows where--and all we can think is, God could never use me!

Fortunately, God doesn’t just use people who feel strong and capable and adequate. In fact, he seldom uses people like that. Those who are most used by God in the work of his Kingdom are those who are like the members of the Corinthian church, to whom Paul said, "Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong . . ." (1 Corinthians 1:26-27).

Okay. That sounds great. But how do I overcome the overwhelming sense of personal inadequacy that keeps me from even hearing his call, let alone signing up to go? The prophet Isaiah has been a big help to me when I’ve struggled with this issue. Like Jeremiah (see the article "A Confident Call" on p. 1), he devotes a whole chapter (Isaiah 6) to recounting how God called him into ministry. It’s surprising to discover where Israel’s greatest prophet was when God got hold of him.

Isaiah’s call began in a time of insecurity. "In the year that King Uzziah died . . ." (verse 1) denotes a very significant and difficult time in Isaiah’s life. Uzziah had been on the throne for 52 years. Now he was dead. The throne, representing all the security the government could provide, was empty. It was as if President Truman had been in the White House from his election until now, and had just died this year. Uzziah’s death was a significant and traumatic event for Isaiah’s nation; they had not had to replace a king for as long as anyone could remember. And apart from the big picture, Isaiah had some personal reasons to be worried--he was related to Uzziah’s family, at a time and in a culture when "preventive assassination" was a normal political strategy.

What is important for us to see here is how Isaiah responded to his insecurity. We don’t find him plotting an escape route, making allies among different members of the royal family, or even hiding from his fears with a bottle. We find him in the temple, praying! It sounds simplistic, but this is where the call of God starts: when we respond to panic with prayer.

Isaiah’s call came out of his personal experience with God. "I saw the Lord, seated on a throne . . ." (verse 1). God rewarded Isaiah’s decision to pray by coming to meet him and revealing himself. God revealed himself to Isaiah as the great ruler, the One on the heavenly throne. It’s as if he were saying, "Isaiah, you don’t have to be afraid. The throne that really matters is not empty!" When we turn to God in a time of need, God meets us at the point of our need, with a revelation from himself exactly tailored to our need.

Isaiah had to face his sinfulness. "Woe to me, I cried. I am ruined!" (verse 5). It is a principle of how God works with us that awareness of his holy presence always leads to an increasing sense of our own sinfulness. It’s ironic that the closer we draw to God, the more our own sin rises up as an apparently insurmountable barrier. Of course, it’s not insurmountable: the revelation that brings a sense of sin also brings an understanding of how that sin can be dealt with. "He touched my mouth and said, ‘. . . your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for’" (verse 7). Sin and sinfulness are not by themselves a barrier to service. God only uses sinful people--that’s all he has to work with. But that sin must be faced and dealt with if the process of being called is to continue.

Finally Isaiah heard the call, his call. "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" (verse 8). And he was able to respond immediately, eagerly and joyfully: "Here am I. Send me!" Notice that Isaiah’s response to God’s call comes at the end of the story, not at the beginning. None of us begin by feeling adequate or holy or in any way useable by God. We begin where Isaiah did--and if we follow in his footsteps, maybe we’ll end up where he ended up, too: "Here am I. Send me!"