Oswald's Wisdom

On about day 3 of my/our Belfast YAV journey, I found an old, somewhat tattered copy of Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest. It was sitting on the bookshelf of one of the other houses, so I asked to borrow it, and have, from that point, read it nearly every night. I'll admit some of his stuff is over my head, while some of it gives me the impression that he's completely off his rocker. However, more often than not, he has really good stuff to say. This is one of those times. (My friend and fellow YAV Maddie is also enamored with our friend Ossie. She speaks of him often in her blog, along with her adventures of serving in Cincinnati.)

January 14th.

Called of God

'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, "Here am I; send me.'" Isaiah 6:8

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. 'Many are called but few are chosen,' that is, few prove themselves the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ whereby their disposition has been altered and their ears unstopped, and they hear the still small voice questioning all the time, 'Who will go for us?' 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 bit to say, in conscious freedom, 'Here am I, send me.' Get out of your mind the idea of expecting God to come with compulsion 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. If we let the Spirit of God bring us face to face with God, we too shall hear something akin to what Isaiah heard, the still small voice of God; and in perfect freedom will say, 'Here am I; send me.'