“God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.” (Exodus 3:4)

While reading through the Old Testament, there was one phrase that jumped out at me over and over: “Here am I.” Moses says it when God calls him at the burning bush, and he is not the only one who uses this phrase. Abraham (Genesis 22:1), Isaac (Genesis 22:7), and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8) all say this phrase to God, and all were used by God for great things. 

And isn’t that the goal? We would all love to say- ‘Here am I, Lord! Send me!’. We would all love to be the one God calls.

But how to get to this point? Well, first it is important to remember that there is no checklist, rather it is a slow process of growth. We must learn to be present and ready for God to choose us. Here are three thoughts we should all keep in mind as we strive towards this goal.

Constantly being before God.

We must consistently place ourselves before God. Reading your Bible, praying, going to church, serving- these are the basics of Christianity that we are instructed to do again and again. But think of these practices in a different light. These are not just rote religious routines- they are ways to constantly place yourself before God. When studying the actions of these Christian heroes, the ones who said ‘here am I’, there is one similarity. They were all present where God was present. 

The best way to be present for God is to be where he is present. In his word, in his church, in his ministry.  

Constantly being filled by good things.

“So,” you may ask, “in order to be present for God, we need to be where he is present. Does that mean we are constantly reading our Bibles? Constantly at church?”

No, actually. But we should be mindful of what we are giving our attention to in our everyday lives. I’m not just going to warn you away from brain rot, social media and the like. You can clear your mind from all those things, but that only leaves empty space. I would like to encourage you to fill yourself with beautiful things. 

Think about it- after being present where God is present, what will He find in you? Can you stand there before him and truly say ‘Here am I’? 

By filling yourself with beauty- nature, good books, family and friends, wonderful experiences- we grow our minds and souls. Good literature grows our character, nature gives us an appreciation for beauty, relationships teach us how to love. Even the smallest things- what music we listen to, the routines and habits we put in place, or the conversations we have, can fill us with either goodness or rottenness. Fill yourself with goodness. Fill yourself so much that you become the type of person who can stand before God and say, ‘Here am I’. 

Constantly growing through hard times.

Let’s be honest, life is hard. When considering the first two points, we may become discouraged. Life, sin, distractions, and struggles get in the way of being present with God, or even filling ourselves with good things. There is always a new obstacle to face, and as soon as we climb over that first, another one takes its place. 

We’ve all experienced this, even if it’s something as simple as school work. Every time you finish one assignment, there’s a new one to take its place. Or two. It is so easy through struggles to simply curl up into a ball. We tell God ‘not now, later’- later when life gets easier. The truth is, life rarely gets easier. 

So think of this- even through suffering, practice being present and filling yourself with goodness anyway. Because through suffering, we can become our strongest when we let God mold and shape us. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:2-4) When in struggles we look up to God, we grow, and we get even more and more closer to being able to say ‘Here am I’.

“Here Am I”

The thing is, there is no checklist for being able to be used by God. But we can prepare ourselves to be present and ready to be called. We just have to put ourselves out there, then God does the rest.