Who WIll Go For Us?

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. --Isaiah 6:8 

The second journal volume in this decade-long prayer log begins with somewhat random notes on a few thematic studies for use in church programming. They were scribblings too specific and cryptic for anything but that moment's application.

The first genuinely personal and memorable note reflects the beginning of a study on the role of the prophet as made evident in God's word.  I didn't state it as a study topic explicitly, but I think I chose this study theme based on my sense that prophetic gifting was already running down the pipes for me.

March 25
Good Friday.  I'm sitting here with two little boys squirming and chattering in the bed beside me.  I don't know how much depth this entry will contain although I really only have one thing on my mind today anyway.  As I was reading in Matthew, I saw this in chapter 13, verse 52:  Then He said to them. 'Therefore, every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things old and new.' "  (Just got a big hug from the little one bouncing on the bed.)  I'm not sure what this verse means exactly, but I do feel like a scribe.  Lord, help me understand and bring the right things--old and new--out of my treasure.  [Just after that entry, an extra note is written in the margin dated April 10:  Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. Isaiah 42:9...Maybe the essence of being assigned as prophet is found in these words--links to the idea of being a householder/scribe like Jesus mentioned in Matthew.]

April 3
Another one to ponder about prophets here:  God Himself clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins, yet told Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot for three years as a sign to the people.  Might prophets sometimes be called to live "outside the box" compared to what God calls others to do and be?  Would He still do such a thing today?

Thinking again about Peter and the crisis of shame and disillusionment in his denial of Christ.  (Easter season stuff, you know.)  When that crisis came, He knew Jesus in such a way that He was still receptive to redemption and commissioning when the time came that these were presented. Looking back to the episode of his walking on water, Peter's preparation for that later crisis becomes obvious.  "We can only carry people in our boat for so long before we must let them walk out of it if they so ask, and in walking they will likely sink.  Have they learned to look to Jesus when they sink?"  (Quoting a letter I wrote to someone there.)  Peter got the chance to practice "failing well."  He went down while walking on water, but he looked to Jesus and was rescued. 

Would Peter have recognized Christ as His resurrected redeemer if he hadn't ever asked to get out of the boat and walk on water that other time?  Probably yes, but it is an interesting parallel to consider. 

It's odd--this first fledgling look at the aspects of being a prophet.  So many things that have been woven so firmly into the fabric of my sense of calling now--anchoring threads in a larger tapestry--are threads just being licked and poked through the eye of a needle here.  It is a tender thing to revisit.

I think about how far You've brought me, Lord, in the last 7 years, and I can't help but wonder:  who will You have fashioned me to be come 7 years from now?
It is a blessed mystery!