Sabbath Thought – Here I Am

(Happy day seven in our count to Pentecost!)

“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones,” (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).

One of the first lessons God desired for Israel to learn was to trust in Him. They trusted God when He told them (through Moses) to put the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorpost so the death angel would pass over them. But a week later they cried out in collective fear and accusation when they were pinned in by the mountains on either side of them, Pharaoh at their rear and facing the Red Sea.

Trust can be challenging from a strictly human viewpoint, but what God is asking of us is not just a giving up. Trusting in God involves yielding to Him with a willing heart, knowing that God has our best interest in mind, loves us deeply and will not forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

That willing heart, that contrite and humble spirit, is evident in our response to God’s call. His calling is certainly a calling to salvation (John 6:44), but that calling is also to follow Him (John 10:27). The action of us following Him is ongoing, and at times more direct. Sometimes God asks us directly to do something.

That was the case with Abraham, when He needed to see Abraham’s “spirit” – his heart – in Genesis 22:1. When God called to Abraham, Abraham simply said, “Here I am.” We see the same response from Samuel (1 Samuel 3:4-8) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8). That expression is very interesting in the Hebrew because literally translated it is: “Behold!” In a modern usage it would be as if someone asks a general question to do something and we would respond by saying “I will” while pointing at ourselves.

The Hebrew expresses an emphasis bordering on surprise while drawing focus on the object or action. Ananias (Acts 9:10) is the only person recorded to have responded this way in the New Testament, but there were others who responded to God is a similar fashion. When Mary was told she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Messiah, she responded by saying, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord!, (Luke 1:38).

God has called us and we have responded. Do we still have enthusiasm in that calling to say to God, “Here I am!”? Are we willing to do whatever He asks us to do? Do we continue to trust Him implicitly – and especially so even if we don’t see or understand what the outcome will be of what He is asking us to do?

This is what Israel failed to see over time. They saw God’s instruction and direction as requirements only – actions that made them righteous. Instead, God was looking for their heart, their desire to respond, and their eagerness to be a part of what He is working out for mankind. This is what He is looking for us as well – so He can say the same thing to us! “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.,'” (Isaiah 58:9).

I wish you a very meaningful Sabbath,

Dan Dowd

11 April, 2026