Though feeling unqualified, some of the greatest men and women of the Bible were called by God to serve Him by living a life of service to others. Moses was a self-directed, tongue-tied fugitive from justice and yet God turned him into a great leader. Peter was a self-confident, cursing denier of Christ and yet God turned him into a great pastor. Paul was a self-righteous angry, persecutor of Christians and yet God turned him into a great missionary. And we can’t forget about some amazing women like Queen Esther and Deborah the Judge who delivered their people from certain destruction.

Furthermore, one of the greatest prophets in Israel answered God’s call to serve when:

I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).

One of the most remarkable things about the Prophet Isaiah was his AVAILABILITY as he, without hesitation, answered God’s call and responded with clarity: “Here am I, send me.”

But we cannot forget that before he answered God’s call, something dramatic happened when he saw the Lord in his vision who was:

…high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:1-4).

It’s in Isaiah’s response that we find another key to being a servant of Christ when he said:

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).

We find that not only was Isaiah AVAILABLE to serve God, but he first had to be BROKEN. Confronted by the glory and majesty of God Himself, his own sin was laid bare as he fell before God, relying on His mercy to redeem him. In like manner, after David’s repentance when confronted with his sin with Bathsheba, he expressed God’s mercy and subsequent cleansing from his sin like this:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart God will not despise (Psalm 51:17).

But Isaiah’s vision was not yet completed, as he also saw:

One of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:6-7).

We must remember that Isaiah first confessed that he “was ruined because he was a man of unclean lips…” He needed cleansing from this particular sin, and that’s when the Lord “touched his lips” and atoned for his sin of allowing his tongue to spew “unclean” words. And so, we see that God could only use Isaiah after he was CLEANSED from his sin(s).

Isaiah, one of the greatest of all Old Testament Prophets, was a man who needed to first be BROKEN over his sin and then CLEANSED from it before he could be used by God and AVALABLE to serve Him. It is my prayer that we would all apply Isaiah’s calling to our own, that we would be AVAILABLE to serve God, having first been BROKEN and CLEANSED from our own sins.

I will have more to say about the disposition of Service next week. Until then, I pray that God will work in each of our hearts to create a desire to be used by God in service to others.