February 7, 2020 (Friday)
Yesterday’s blog was about “fraudsters,” people who cheat you and are after your money. Toward the end of the blog, I mentioned that sometimes people on the street or at a store can be “fraudsters.” Of course, not all those you might meet like that are wanting to take advantage of you; some are simply in need of help. Some of these people are homeless. At least a half million people in our country are homeless. Worldwide, at least a billion people are also homeless.
There are organizations that provide many types of help for the homeless. Still there are those who are found in parks, abandoned buildings, 24-hour businesses, or just plain on the street, covered with newspapers for warmth and attempting to sleep on a sidewalk or in recesses of storefronts. The facts about their health are plain to see in the high rates of illness and death among them.
To be sure, many individuals and organizations are actively trying to help the homeless. All the rest of us are wondering if there is anything we can do to alleviate the suffering of so many of these people. A thorough examination of the facts reveal to us that this is no easy problem to solve; it is complicated when the numbers of homeless are broken down to groups like veterans, the elderly, families with children, young people trying to get along with anyone helping, etc.
My only purpose in writing about this subject is to encourage you to pray for your fellow human beings, who, for whatever reason, are alone and lonely, confused, sometimes ill, mentally challenged, swamped by poverty, and on we could go with descriptions of their plight.
In the Holy Land and in other places, beggars were on the streets asking for alms (donations) and gifts to them were looked upon as valid by organized religion. Society recognized that they had reached a point in life in which begging was their only means of survival.
We live in a different world today. Yet we as Christians should make ourselves aware of the many human needs existing in this big old world, and ask God, “What will you have me to do?”
Isaiah the Old Testament prophet was the cousin of Uzziah the king of Judah. Uzziah reigned as king for 52 years, but became proud and took over the priest’s job, offering incense upon God’s altar. God struck him down with leprosy and lived by himself, existing apart from everyone, finally dying after 12 years. In he meantime, his son became the king. Isaiah then had a vision. He saw God as holy and fearsome, surrounded by heavenly beings amidst smoke that hid God from view. But Isaiah, in his vision, saw God and became aware of his own shortcomings and sins. Yet God’s voice was heard, asking, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” Isaiah, humbly replied, “Here am I; send me.”
Isaiah acknowledged his sin and unworthiness, yet he was of royal blood. Yet, he considered answering God’s call to service greater than being a cousin of the king. God honored him by choosing him to be a servant. He was a prophet, and delivered messages from God to a disobedient people.
The king, Uzziah, became proud and suffered; Isaiah, the cousin, remained humble ever thankful for the privilege of serving God.
The prophet, Isaiah, had a greater task than the king: to deliver messages from God. This he did faithfully, and many of his words are recorded for us in the Bible. His, “thus saith the Lord” was a greater statement than that of Uzziah, “I am the king.”
The Lord calls all of us to serve Him. We can have no greater calling in life than the call to service. And how may we serve Him? There is no limit to our opportunites for Christian service if we take seriously God’s commandment to love Him and to express that love by loving others. Please read carefully the words of the hymn, “Here Am I, Send Me,” below, and let those words guide you as you serve the Lord.
HERE AM I, SEND ME
Hark, the voice of Jesus calling,
“Who will go and work today?
Fields are white and harvests waiting;
Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Loud and long the Master calls us,
rich reward He offers free;
who will answer, gladly saying,
“Here am I, send me, send me”?
If you cannot cross the ocean,
and the distant lands explore,
you can find the lost around you,
you can help them at your door.
If you cannot give your thousands,
you can give the widow’s mite;
what you truly give for Jesus,
will be precious in His sight.
If you cannot be the watchman
standing high on Zion’s wall,
pointing out the path to heaven,
off’ring life and peace to all,
with your pray’rs and with your bounties
you can do what heav’n demands;
you can be like faithful Aaron
holding up the prophet’s hands.
Let none hear you idly saying,
“There is nothing I can do,”
while the lost of earth are dying,
and the Master calls for you:
take the task He gives you gladly;
let His work your pleasure be;
answer quickly when He calls you,
“Here am I, send me, send me.”