Here I Am, Send Me!

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Isaiah 6:1-8

Hmmmm. I think this is relevant to me. First, it's got to do with being willing to be available to God for whatever he wants done. That's the obvious bit. The not-so-obvious bit that I'm contemplating as I type (best way to think, sometimes), is the process. So let me see if I can break this down into something non-legalistic, but useful. Bear with me.

First, Isaiah saw God.
Second, he realised something of what God is.
Third, he realised something of what HE wasn't - and it tore him up inside (metaphorically speaking).
Fourth, the live coal. OK, here's where I get a bit stuck. Does it simply signify forgiveness? I don't think so. A live (burning) coal, taken from God's altar, touched to the part he said was sinful... well I know that heat is often used to remove infection. So, not just forgiveness but painful purification?
Fifth, AFTER his repentance, forgiveness and purification, God wonders out loud "Whom shall I send?" I guess we hear God best once we've opened ourselves up to be purified by him?
Sixth, Isaiah jumps in and says, "Here I am, send me!" Does he know where God wants to send him? Nope. Does he know what God wants done? Nope. Isaiah was presumably married (I've worked out that he had a son)... but he didn't say, "Send me, as long as it's not too far away, or for too long a time, Lord!" Maybe he was being a stereotypical guy and wanted to get away from the family for a while... or maybe he simply trusted that God had his, and his family's, best interests in mind.

Hmmmm. I'm thinking of talking to hubby tonight and suggesting that we simply pray together, "Lord, we have no idea what you want to do, or where you want to do it. But we offer ourselves to go wherever you want, to do whatever you want."

I wonder how hubby will react?