2.66 I Want to Say - Here Am I; Send Me

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello my friends, great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. A quick shift of gears today as we jump over to our Book of Mormon readings and then come back one more time for Doctrine and Covenants. But I think the message we have inside of 2 Nephi chapter 16 here today feeds into the challenges that Martin Harris has as he's questioning what he's supposed to do with his farm when it comes to the publication of the Book of Mormon.

Our verse for today comes out of our Book of Mormon readings, which this week is 2 Nephi chapters 15 through 18. So I'm going to be reading from 2 Nephi 16 today. And then remember that we're also inside of Doctrine and Covenants section 19 for the week.

Let's take a look at 2 Nephi chapter 16. This is an interesting chapter because many of Isaiah's chapters are first person written, but they through the lens of the Lord writing them. And this one actually seems to be first person written through the lens of Isaiah writing it.

I got this one labeled here as Isaiah calling to be a prophet. And so we see on the front end of this chapter, we see the repentance process of Isaiah as he experiences the blessing of having his sins and iniquities washed away. And then we get to this verse here, which I think is really telling for us.

It's 2 Nephi chapter 16, verse 8. It says, "Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?'" Then I said, "Here am I; send me." Now that phrase might be really familiar to those that are familiar with the Book of Abraham inside the Pearl of Great Price. Here am I; send me.

It got me thinking about our own lives. And though we may be willing to serve for the Lord, and though we may be willing, whether it's through callings in our own wards and stakes or whether it's through just assignments, we may be willing to do so. But how often do we stand and make it known?

And I don't even necessarily mean literally; I mean figuratively with the Lord. How often do we go to the Lord and say, "Here am I; send me"? I think about times in my life where I've been given assignments or callings that were more difficult for me.

And yet I understand that my willingness to go and to serve was kind of a prerequisite to those assignments and callings. And I can think of times in my life where I have been greatly blessed because of my willingness to stand and say, "Here am I; send me." Now, the interesting thing with this is it can be applied at such a micro level. I mean, this could go to like, you know, your Sunday school classes when somebody says, you know, who's willing to say a prayer?

And this happens, whether it's a teenage class or whether it's an adult class, but there's kind of this awkward silence, right? Like who's going to volunteer to say a prayer? And it can go all the way to larger things, right?

I've had for me opportunities and experiences to literally travel the world. I was so glad to be here today to work with a mission president. I talked about this before, but to work with a mission president and his missionaries on the other side of the globe and to train them and to work with them and then to train and work with new members of the Church and youth and young adults inside the Church.

Young adults, I should say, not adult youth. It was an amazing experience, and that experience came because I was willing to say, "Here am I; send me."