I Am Here, GOD (am I ready?)
Hineni (hee-ne-NEE) Isaiah said, "Here I am, send me", to ADONAI’s call (and) question: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" --Isa. 6:8 Isaiah's answer to the voice was, “hineni.”
This is the same word that BOTH Moses and Samuel used when they encountered the Lord GOD.
This word was normally used (in Scripture) to indicate (or preface) a call of the Father to commission a person for a job. It is saying,
I WILL BE FAITHFUL: correct, authentic, accurate and trustful.
I WILL BE READY: prepared, organized or equipped.
I WILL BE TEACHABLE: receptive, amenable or interested.
I WILL BE AVAILABLE: present, open to, unfulfilled, offered up or accessible
I WILL BE SUBMITTED: surrendered, bowed down, succumbed, given in or acquiesced.
Almighty GOD, El Shaddai, called their names. The the person was then commissioned to go tell the people what He has said, or is saying. As with Pharaoh, the heart of the listeners would be hardened, and the Message from the Father would be disregarded. This is no different than when others were called: Ezekiel, Paul, the Twelve or Hosea. All these fellas had to have the characteristics ADONAI wanted in a person. The mission was BIG!
He saw ahead of time the victories and defeats they would encounter. They were "characteristically" ready. Unlike these servants like Isaiah, Moses and our King-Messiah, the Message of Submission and Obedience was lost on unrepentant hearts and deaf ears. Again, the Word of GOD was disregarded.
There are many of us today who disregard the voice of the spirit when He wants us to do, go or say something the Father wants. Instead, the preach another speech, like a prosperity gospel (“give to me and GOD will bless you or the “name it and claim it”).
It is frustrating for the obedient servant to deliver the Word of GOD to the hard-hearted people, because, you know the Word you have for them WILL help them and change their lives (if applied and obeyed).
Isaiah asked the Lord, "how long he should preach the Message He has given him?" What was the Lord's answer? "...until the cities (Jerusalem and surrounding ones) are all destroyed, and the people of Judah (Israel's Southern kingdom) are exiled from the land."
The OPPOSITE characteristics of the above descriptive words are:
I WILL BE DISHONEST and a LIAR
I WILL NEGLECT PEOPLE, BE LAZY and IGNORE GOD’s CHARGE
I WILL BE HOSTILE and UNTTEACHABLE
I WILL BE RESTRICTED IN WHAT I AM TOLD TO SAY
I WILL BE IN CONTROL and NOT SUBMITTED
I WILL BE DISOBEDIENT and UNTRUSTWORTHY
Which attitude does your soul, will and mind have? When people say, Hineni, I am hoping their thoughts are centered on their readiness to "get after it", as a buddy of mine would say.
When we were younger, in school, our teachers would call roll in class. Our "typical" response would have been, "present" or "here". Hineni! This told the teacher that we were in our seats ready to learn, go and receive what they were to instruct us on that day.
Are you Hineni? Yeah? Let us "get after it!"
Hineni is found in the Hebrew Scriptures and means “here I am.” It occurs 17 times in four canonical books of Hebrew scripture (Genesis, Exodus, Samuel and Isaiah).
Once vowels are applied, however, it is easy to be confused hineni with the ubiquitous hi’nih’ni, which means “I am here.”
These two words are presumed to mean the same thing, but they do not.
Limiting our discussion to occurrences in the Five Books of Moses (Torah), hineni, “here I am,” is a response to the call of GADONAI (e.g., Genesis 22:1 & 46:2 and Exodus 3:4). It is usually a response to the call of a messenger (Genesis 22:11 & 31:11) presumed to be GOD’s proxy.
Hineni is a parent’s response to the call of their child (Genesis 22:7 & 27:18) and it is a child’s response to the call of their parent (Genesis 27:1 & 37:13).
Hineni accomplishes two things: the caller has the full attention of the central character whose story will change in a dramatic way. The reader must wait to find out what the hero will be asked to do.
The Torah’s use of hineni creates soap opera moments: “Joseph, what’s wrong with you? Your dad calls upon you to visit the brothers who hate you? By saying ‘hineni’ without hesitation, don’t you realize the great danger you’ve put yourself in?”
Although we think of hineni primarily as a response to a divine call, this usage is limited to three occurrences. Two of them are related to the disturbing story of Isaac’s near sacrifice by a father who hears voices.
I once saw a book in a local religious bookstore, “Why is it that when I talk to GOD, it is called praying, but when God talks to me it is called schizophrenia?”
Hineni is different. It says, “I am here to listen to whatever the caller has to say, but (with the exception of Joseph) I do not yet know what the caller wants from me.”
Hi’nih’ni, “I am here,” limits my actions to specific activities codified in writing, activities taught to all followers of the Torah and passed down through the generations.
What if the heavenly voice asks us, like Abraham, to offer up a child? Even worse, what if we succeed?
In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, we learn that the Torah is not heaven. GOD placed it on earth.
The Bible is here and hi’nih’ni, I am here to fulfill its Commandments; and He wants to place them in us.