Isaiah 6:8-13

Heavenly Father give me grace to hear and understand what needs to be done
Give me grace to say “Here am I.  Send me”
Give me grace to do this particularly when the outlook is bleak, and what I do will make little difference.

⁸ 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!”

(People just don’t want to be told that what they are doing is wrong)

⁹ He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
    be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
    make their ears dull
    and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”

(… even when whole communities are destroyed
as was the case when the people of Judah were sent into exile in 597BC)

¹¹ Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”

And he answered:

“Until the cities lie ruined
    and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
    and the fields ruined and ravaged,
¹² until the Lord has sent everyone far away
    and the land is utterly forsaken.
¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land,        
    it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
    leave stumps when they are cut down,
    so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”