Worshiping God with a Heart of Service

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me’” (Isaiah 6:8).

Isaiah was shown a vision of God, high and exalted. Angels worshipped him. The prophet was filled with awe. He knew how unworthy he was to be in God’s presence. Yet he was reassured with the words, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Then comes God’s call with the question, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” The prophet’s response is powerful: “Here I am! Send me.” For Isaiah this was clearly a life-changing experience.

You and I enter into God’s presence in a special way when we engage in worship. Our thoughts and attitudes are important in all of life, but never more so than when we come before God in worship. Worship should be a time to be reminded that God calls us into his service. Worshiping God is edifying. Worship serves as a motivation to apply the principles of discipleship in life. We need to cultivate a heart that is ready to serve.

God was ultimately calling Isaiah into service. Isaiah did not discuss his call with the Lord or make excuses, as did Moses when he said, “What shall I say?” “They will not believe me or listen to my voice.” “I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Exod. 3:11–4:15). Or like Jeremiah who, when God called him to service, said “I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth” (Jer. 1:4-10). God called Isaiah to speak to a people who would not listen, yet the prophet accepted the call and made himself available to his master. “Here I am! Send me.”

Isaiah's prompt response and surrender to the Lord’s call reminds us of two fishermen who also heard Jesus’ call and surrendered (Matt. 4:18-19). Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” They left everything, their nets and their boat and their father, and followed him.

Worship can be a life-changing experience for us. And it will change us if our heart is in the right place. Coming into his presence should draw us closer to him, and should make us strive to be more like him. Preparing for worship means that we are ready listen to his voice as he speaks in his word, and that we are ready to answer his call. As young Samuel said when God called, we should approach God in worship with a heart that says “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears” (1 Sam. 3:10). With such a heart of service, we will leave more prepared than before to present our bodies to him as a living and holy sacrifice, our “spiritual service of worship” (Rom. 12:1).

God not only called Isaiah to service. He calls us as well. He calls us to service. He calls us to higher ground. He calls us to greater commitment. He calls us to a life of purity. Let us have that heart of a servant, and think about that work to which God is calling us when we approach him in worship. “Here I am! Send me.”

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Ps. 1:1-3).

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!” (Ps. 95:6).

Dan Petty