September 18, 2026

Here I Am

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!'” Sixteen years into my military service, I put in a package for Officer Training School. By any honest measure, I shouldn’t have. I was walking through the hardest season of my life, personally and spiritually, carrying failures I wasn’t proud of and a record that told a story I didn’t want told.

It was wise counsel, not confidence, that moved me to submit that package anyway. I sent it carrying disqualifications, not credentials. And by God’s grace, the board looked at a file that should have ended the conversation, and selected me anyway. That’s exactly where Isaiah stood. In chapter 6, he sees the Lord “high and lifted up,” and his first response isn’t confidence. It’s confession: “Woe is me… I am a man of unclean lips.” He doesn’t ask for time to clean himself up first. He names the truth about himself in the presence of the truth about God. And that’s when grace moves.

A seraph takes a coal from the altar, from a sacrifice already made, and touches Isaiah’s lips. His guilt is removed before he does anything to earn it. Only then does Isaiah answer, “Here I am. Send me.” Notice the order: cleansing, then commissioning.

Isaiah wasn’t sent because he was ready. He was sent, and the sending is what shaped him into someone ready. You may feel the same way about whatever God has placed in front of you. You may never feel ready. But readiness was never the requirement. His provision is. Today. Where is God asking for a “here I am” before you feel prepared?

Prayer: Lord, thank You for cleansing what I couldn’t fix on my own. Help me trust You to supply the readiness You’re asking me to walk in. Here I am; send me. Amen.