I love this passage from Isaiah. The words, “Here I am; Send me” in verse 8 are some of the first in scripture that I memorized and that inspired me in mission. What I really love about verse 8 is how completely different it is from the whole passage before.
Isaiah’s vision is larger than life. The temple is filled with sounds and smoke, terrifying monsters and the hem of God’s garment. Isaiah is rightly terrified. He is overwhelmed and convinced he’s going to die because he is “a man of unclean lips” living “among a people of unclean lips” (v. 5). He is pretty sure he’s unworthy of whatever it is that is happening around him and that judgment is imminent.
Then in verses 6 and 7, one of the monsters flies over to him, burns him with a coal and pronounces his sins forgiven. Seriously? How crazy is that?
Everything hinges on the coal. Isaiah goes from cowering in guilt and self-pity to standing up boldly ready to answer God’s call – all because of the coal.
What’s with the coal? What happened that changed Isaiah’s mind?
One word: forgiveness. Isaiah does a complete 180 because he is convinced he’s forgiven.
Now, most people today are not wallowing in their unworthiness. We do not spend our days beating our chests convinced that judgment is imminent. But if you look at the booming self-help industry, it’s clear that many people are looking for something more and turning inward in order to bring about that change.
In church-talk, we call that forgiveness. But I also love another biblical term: the Hebrew word Shalom, which means wholeness or peace. Only in being made whole, in being forgiven, is Isaiah able to boldly follow God’s call.
For him it took an instant – the coal burning him. What would it take to convince us that we are forgiven? That God has made us whole and calls us to go out to change the world?