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Giving Us The Power To Perform

When Isaiah saw the heavenly scene recorded in Isaiah 6:1-4, he admitted his inadequacies when he said:

“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 my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

That consciousness of inefficacy came from the awesome scene of God’s throne. How could a man who is unclean take such a great message for such a great God? But when God asked, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” (Isaiah 6:8), God’s prophet confidently answered:

“Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

The man who has never felt unfit for a task, will never be fit for any task, whether great or small. There must be a proper estimation of our ability and a consciousness of inefficacy to do God’s work by our own power, knowing that whatever the Lord requires us to do, we can do (Hebrews 13:6; cf. Philippians 4:13).

We sometimes fault Moses for his excuses not to lead God’s people out of Egyptian bondage and into the promised land. While he was not eloquent in speech, he forgot that when God assigns a task to someone, He also gives them the power to perform it (Exodus 4:10-12).

As in Isaiah’s case, our own consciousness of inefficacy should cause us to throw ourselves before the throne of God and plead for His mercy. This was also the attitude of the Publican, when he would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast and said, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” (Luke 18:13).

As followers of Christ, we must be aware of our need for God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), simply because we lack the power to save ourselves, and thus are in need of a Savior (Matthew 1:21).

If we were able to see the same scene that Isaiah saw, we too would confess to God:

“We are a people of unclean lips ….we are undone.“

On the other hand, we should have confidence in our great and powerful God who can give us the power to do what we cannot do by ourselves. Therefore, we should always be as ready as Isaiah was to preach the word to needy souls with an attitude of — “Here am I! Send me.”

Like Moses and Isaiah, God will always give us the power to perform any task or responsibility He requires (cf. Luke 24:45-49; Acts 1:8).

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