‘Here am I, Send Me.’

Recently, I’ve heard it in a eulogy for a military funeral. The Bible verse in full is Isaiah 6:8, ‘Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.’ This is from the call of Isaiah to be a prophet.

My first thought was that this verse was taken out of context. It’s not really a call for military service. But then was reminded of what C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, where he described the world as “enemy-occupied territory”. He portrayed Christianity as a story of the rightful king (Christ) landing in disguise and calling followers to a “great campaign of sabotage”.

Lewis referred to the church service (and scripture) as “listening-in to the secret communications from our friends” (the forces of good). This communication is kept hidden from the “enemy” (the devil), who tries to prevent people from attending church or reading the Bible, using distractions like pride and intellectual snobbery.

There are other verses in the Bible where military language is mentioned and while I think one does not equal another, I can see the parallels in active Christian living and active military service.

• Not everyone wants to do it
• Full time ministry has a high wash-out percentage
• Military work-ups take about a year for practice runs and getting team/stuff together
• There are part-timers/reservists
• There are many unseen people who are needed to make the job possible
• etc, etc, etc.

When I was younger (like teenage), I heard about the Navy SEALs and wanted to be one. The motivational speakers say that you can be anything that you want to be, but I can tell you the reality of this scenario.

• At the time (late 90s), women were not allowed (raises hand)
• You had to know how to swim, because S in SEAL stand for SEA (I didn’t know how to swim, still struggle with it)
• You had to have close to 20/20 vision (I have severe myopia since I was seven)
• You had to be between the ages of 18-30 (then I was 16, now I am 43)
• You had to be an American citizen (I am not and don’t plan to be)
• You had to be a certain height (I don’t even reach 5 feet)
• etc, etc, etc.

But when you read the verse about Isaiah’s call, it doesn’t mention any requirements. The Lord just asks, ‘Who is willing?’ and that’s all the ability anyone needs to do something for the Lord.

A quote I heard once upon a time goes like this, ‘The best ability is availability.’ Or as Woody Allen put it: