I'm Available

I

 love gadgets.  The other day, I stopped by a Best Buy Store on the way home from work.  I affectionately refer to this store as the adult "Toys R Us" because it's just full of fun and nifty things to play with.  All those buttons just begging to be pushed, all those dials to turn, and of course, all those neat little gadgets you just have to pick up and play with.  The hard part about this store is NOT buying anything.  If you ever wanted to torture me, turn me loose here for several hours, let me play with everything, and then make me go home empty handed.  In my book, this is cruel and unusual punishment.

However, there is a neat little gadget I use everyday that I didn't find at Best Buy.  Instead I found it on the Internet and I use it constantly.  It's one of those little programs that informs you when a friend anywhere in the world is online at the same time you are.  You can send messages, chat with them, send files back and forth, or just bug them, especially if they're busy.  I am always amazed at how quickly I can communicate with someone clear across the country or the planet through this useful little device.  Yet, there is something about this little gadget that provides our tidbit topic for today.

Whenever I access the Internet and connect to this service, I have several options about my availability to those people on my list.  I can be totally available, meaning they are welcome to send me messages or strike up a conversation.  But I also can choose to be busy, away from my desk, out to lunch, on the phone, or invisible to them.  I can even make up my own reasons for being unavailable.  Whenever I make one of these choices, everyone on my list sees my status and knows not to disturb me if I'm busy or to send me messages if I'm not.

Sadly, this little gadget speaks volumes about how we make ourselves available to God.  We wake up in the morning and perhaps we have a million things to do so we logon on as busy.  The phone rings and we strike up a conversation with a friend and we change the sign to "on the phone."  Next, we have several errands to run during the day and our sign reads "not at home" and when we are filling our mouths instead of our souls it reads "out to lunch."  At times, however, we would rather God just left us alone and we try to become "invisible" afraid that if he sees us, he'll give us something to do.

The fact is, we are full of excuses for not spending time with God and for not being totally available to him.  Today's scripture is very short and is taken from a statement made by the prophet Isaiah.  At the time of this scripture, Judah had lost her king.  Uzziah was a powerful and righteous king and with his death, everything seemed out of kilter.  What the people needed was a leader, but who could take the place of such a man?  God's call went out and Isaiah just happened to be online, plugged in on that day.  When God asked who would be his representative, Isaiah responded in this way, "Here am I; send me."

Notice that Isaiah's sign read "I am available."  I'm sure he was frightened, I'm sure he felt inadequate, I'm certain he didn't know where to begin, what to do, or how to do it.  However, God didn't ask him to figure out all those things, he just asked him to be available.  And Isaiah was available to God and because of this he became one of God's greatest prophets.  God was not looking for excuses from Isaiah; he was looking for willingness from him.

Today, I wonder what the signals our lives are sending to those linked to us in our homes, in our relationships, in our workplaces.  Are we too busy, not at home, away from the desk, out to lunch, or just plain invisible?  When God sends us a message, are we willing to respond to it?  Or do we send these same signals to him as well?  

God never calls us to do anything for him unless he equips us to do it.  He never expects us to use our ability to accomplish his purposes because we don't have that ability. No, what God wants from us is our availability.  Like Isaiah, all we need to say to God is "Here I am, Lord; send me!"  God will do the rest.  Who knows what God can accomplish through you today if you will simply make yourself available to him.  Won't you do that today?  Won't you set the indicator panel of your life to "Available" and see what God can do through you for his purpose?