Isaiah 6:8-11
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. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.
This portion of the book of Isaiah is yet another entreaty to the Israelites urging them to turn back to God. It included the warning that God in righteous judgement would give them over to their blindness to his word.
Notice in verse eleven Isaiah speaks to the Lord and says, “Lord how Long?” Isaiah wanted to know how long he had to continue to warn the people about their sins and remind them that they were rebelling against a righteous God. God tells Isaiah that he must continue until the cities be wasted without inhabitants. Basically it sounds like he was to continue until they had succumbed to their own evil and iniquities that would over take them.
This gives us a pretty good idea of what our focus is as we share God’s word. Be willing. Here am I Lord, send me. Be prepared. Study the word and hide it in your heart. Listen to God’s timing and God’s leadership as opportunities for sharing God’s word become apparent. Be persistent, knowing that you were also once lost in sin with no hope for eternity. Be compassionate because you have the knowledge that God in his righteous judgement may give them over to their blindness and this end can be very painful. Do not judge. Many of us have existed in a similarly blind state during our lifetime where we are unable to see what we were doing to ourselves until devastating damage was done.
The Lord does not like lukewarm. He wants you to be on fire for Him, jumping up and down shouting, “Lord, pick me, pick me!” The time when we can share the Lord with others is growing short. Our Lord will return. Many will ignore as we share God’s word, but our focus is on whosoever will. There are still whosoever wills out there and so as a church we should stay committed to our first love. The great commission. Matthew 28:18 -20: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.