‘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’(Isa. 6:8).
From the midst of heaven there comes to our earth this cry for help – an appeal from the Eternal Trinity: ‘Who will go for us!’ It reminds us of the last commission of our Lord to his disciples, that they should go into all the world, and preach his gospel to every creature. The Seraphim may minister to those who have become the heirs of salvation, but only those who have been redeemed from among men have the high privilege of being called to the supreme work of redemption.
Notice the preparation for responding to that ap- peal. The vision of the Eternal: ‘I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne’. Suddenly the material temple, in which Isaiah was probably worshipping, gave place to the eternal; the altar and the laver to the throne of God; the cloud of incense, to the skirts of glory that filled the air; the choir of Levites, to the bands of the Seraphim that engirdled the sapphire throne. And above all, he beheld the glory of Christ (John 12:41).
This led to the vision of his own heart: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone’. It is when a man reaches the snowline that he realizes the comparative impurity of the whitest white that earth can produce. Probably there was no one in all Jerusalem who lived nearer to God than Isaiah; but when he learned that, in the estimation of the Seraphim, God was thrice holy; when he saw them veil their faces in adoration; when he discovered that the whole universe was filled with God; then he remembered the hidden evil of his own heart, and cried out, ‘I am unclean!’ Not a moment intervened between his confession and the cleansing of his iniquity, and he was able to say, ‘Send me!’
Have you heard that cry for help from the heart of Christ? Are you seeking to enter into his yearning love for the souls of men? He says to each one of us: ‘Could ye not watch with me one hour?’ Give yourself to him that you may be used in his service: ‘Here am I, send me, use me’.
Prayer:
Lord, grant us ears to hear, eyes to see, wills to obey, hearts to love; then declare what thou wilt, reveal what thou wilt, command what thou wilt, demand what thou wilt. Amen.
On F. B. Meyer’s death in 1929 The Daily Telegraph called him ‘The Archbishop of the Free Churches’. The New York Observer noted that ‘He has an international fame and his services are constantly sought by churches over the wide and increasing empire of Christendom.’ To the secular press of his time he was a key player on the world scene. Meyer was the minister one of Britain’s first ‘megachurches’. He was friends with D. L. Moody and ministered on both sides of the Atlantic, mirroring in America what D. L. Moody was able to undertake in the U.K. He came from a conventional, middle class Victorian background and experienced no dramatic conversion. He was not a distinguished scholar or dramatic orator. His slight figure and retiring manner meant that he did not stand out in a crowd. Yet he drew crowds by the thousands, wrote books, which sold by the millions, and attracted working class people.The range of Meyer’s activities is astonishing: preacher, pastor, writer, social activist, free church leader, Baptist president, advocate for missionary work and more. In his last years, he declared, ‘If I had a hundred lives, they should be at Christ’s disposal.’ At times, it seemed as though he was living a hundred lives!
Where to Buy:
Our Daily Walk: Daily Readings by F. B. Meyer is available at any good Christian bookstore. If you don’t have a Christian bookstore near you, you may want to consider purchasing a copy from one of the online book retailers listed below:
