Isa 6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ESV
Isaiah was eavesdropping on God when he heard Him ask … “Who will go for us? As one commentator said: “God wasn’t calling a special person or a special few … He was calling everyone.”
I used to get confused between being “called” and being “chosen.” Corrie Ten Boom helped .. “It’s like walking through a door labled called and when you close it the sign says chosen, but it still didn’t really clarify it. But over the years I have sort of looked at it this way.
Many are called but few are chosen. The difference is decided by whether we are listening and the state of our disposition, which dertermines whether we are chosen or not. As Corrie would say … “Are we opening the door and entering or are we continuing to stand outside?”
Isaiah heard the call, opened the door, and walked in. His ears were opened and his disposition was changed. He responded to the call … “Here I am! Send me.” But how did He hear the call? He heard the still small voice of God because He was in the presence of God and there was nothing else for him to say. That’s the way it is for the bride of Christ. We need to be listening to hear His call and respond as Isaiah did … “I’m available Lord.”
I have found in my life that when I hear His call there are two options. First, I can immediately (and I have) attempt to determine what God is asking me to do, where to go, what to say and take action. And that always gets me in trouble by heading down the wrong road. What He really wants is for me to continue listening … and knowing that means “follow me.” The first time I heard His voice it came out of the mouth of a dear friend and I heard the call and stepped through the door that brought me face-to-face with my Saviour.
It was easy in the beginning as His voice was always clear and I was always listening. But as time went by, I allowed other voices and other callings get my attention, and I went through periods where I didn’t hear His voice. Oh, He was asking but I was letting His still small voice get covered up. It has taken me what seems like a long time to understand that yes, He called me and I chose to follow, but it takes a lot of listening to know where He wants me to go.
We choose to respond to His call and receive His redemption, to become His bride. But while we easily say “Here I am send me” in the early days and wait for His voice to tell us where … as time passes we so often fail to wait for His answer. It’s a fact (at least in my life) that the longer I have walked with Him the more I have realized that His voice get softer and the voice of the enemy gets louder. As a result I have not been so quick to determine where to go and a lot more patient in continuing to listen.
Yes, many are “called” and few are “chosen” … perhaps it is also true that many are called and few “choose.” And choosing for me means to continually “listen” as I walk through my journey with Him down here. What He wants to tell me always has eternal implications. I’ve learned that, like Isaiah, eavesdropping on the Lord is fundamental to a successful walk with Him. It has saved me many times from going where He has not called me to go.
1 Peter 2:9 But God chose you to be his people. You are royal priests. You are a holy nation. You are a people who belong to God. All of this is so that you can sing his praises. He brought you out of darkness into his wonderful light.