God is Calling you
| 1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 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. (Isaiah6:1-8) |
- If you've ignored a ringing phone because you knew who was calling, raise your hand.
- If you've picked up the phone and said something stupid because you thought you knew who it was, raise your other hand.
- If you've stayed at home when you really wanted to go out because you were expecting an important call, smile.
- If you've sat next to the phone waiting for someone to call, kick yourself
Are these not the different kinds of calls that we hear under normal circumstances? Aren't they a qualification of how important a call can be? I am sure that we have all experienced some sort of call or another. And the call of God to Isaiah in Chapter 6 is one of the more famous calls in the Scripture. Isaiah's call comes in the form of a vision, where he sees God way up high on a throne and God's kingly robe being so huge that the hem of it completely fills the temple. There are strange beasts with lots of wings attending to God and proclaiming God's holiness with such power that the temple shook and filled with smoke. Now, most of us cannot claim to have had such an experience – but those of us who choose to pay attention to our spiritual lives, we can often point to several "aha!" moments on the spiritual journey.
The initial one of those, the one that usually propels us to begin the spiritual walk in the first place, is the realisation that the existence of God is a very real possibility. May be we had not really considered that before, but something happens that makes us say there might actually be a God, in which case I better pay attention. We might not be sure at that point. We might not know anything about the nature of that God, but God suddenly becomes real enough that we feel compelled to investigate.
After all the shaking and smoking in Isaiah's vision, he cries out "Woe is me! I am lost... yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." When confronted with the glory of God, the first thing that Isaiah becomes aware of is sinfulness – he is scared. I doubt he thinks repentance, but may be his mind goes, "that's it; I'm in for it."
But he is not and neither are we. Have you reached a point of basic belief in God? Then believe me you are on a spiritual driveway – and this is your second "aha!" moment in the spiritual journey. That moment is that the God that you just discovered is calling you, by your name – ringing your number, calling on your address and God is calling specifically you.
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The Rev Armando Sontange has a blessed calling: Shumikazi calls him Honey, Kwezi, Litha and Khanyo call him Dad. The folks at Kagiso Presbyterian Church call him their Moruti and preacher. And God calls him His.
