The iconic words “Here I am. Send Me!” I do believe that many Christians have said these words and truly meant them. Isaiah was not the only one to have said the phrase “Here I am.” As I studied those words, I saw something that was not really a surprise, but it does show just how loving our God is.

In the chart are all of the times that “here I am” is used in the NIV. The Hebrew word for “here I am” is hinneh and is used to call attention to something or to enliven a narrative. The Greek word is idou and means basically the same thing as the Hebrew word. (Note: Some of these references are different words/phrases but those also are for calling attention to something.) The words hinneh and idou are actually translated many different ways and they are used many times in Scripture. The verses in blue are people just getting someone’s attention. The rest, however, are God calling to someone first and the people are answering to God’s call or God is just trying to get our attention by saying “here I am.” You will notice God does/did a lot of calling to people.

Some of these calls were very specific for the moment and person but in Isaiah 58 and Revelation 3:20, the Father and Jesus called and are calling so we can find them. Sometimes we have to remember that God is not the one who is lost but the One who is leading.