Genesis 22: Answering "Here I Am" When God Calls You

Introduction

At the end of a week of fasting and prayer, Samuel Salmeron, pastor at the Église Évangélique de Réveil de Genève, titled his message "Here I am." Those who had been there every day were beginning to know the phrase well.

He starts from an experience many people know: those dreams where you want to run but stay as if paralyzed, where you shout and no sound comes out. In the walk with God, it is sometimes the same. "We have plenty of ideas, plenty of desire. We would like to have big plans with God, to follow him." But in the middle of our lives there are resistances to obedience, conscious or unconscious. Sometimes we do not understand why we are not moving forward, and sometimes we know exactly where we said no.

The pastor believes we all need "turning points of faith." The Bible gathers many of them: men and women said yes to God and saw their path change completely. He picks four, Abraham, Moses, Samuel and Isaiah, and draws five lessons from them for your own faith.

Message Outline

1. Four Journeys, One Answer

Abraham: "After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' He said, 'Here I am.'" (Genesis 22:1). He is the patriarch used to listening to God and trying to obey him.
Moses, before the burning bush (Exodus 3:4). This is not yet the Moses of the plagues of Egypt or the Red Sea, but a man who fled Egypt after a bad decision, hunted for murder, and who has been wandering for years.
Samuel, called during the night, who runs three times to Eli before answering: "Speak; for your servant hears" (1 Samuel 3:4-10). The Bible says he is a child, without the experience of Abraham or Moses, but receptive and ready to respond.
Isaiah, who has just received a revelation of the holiness and glory of God: "Here I am. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).
In Hebrew, the expression is an everyday one. Abraham also answers Isaac, "Here I am, my son" (Genesis 22:7). But it is not just saying "present" when the teacher takes attendance in class: "It is I am here, ready to act. I am here, ready to respond to whatever will be asked of me." It is the stage of listening before the stage of obedience and trust.

2. God Is the One Who Calls

"Sometimes we forget the simplest things." God is the one who writes the story, who arranges the circumstances, who has the plans.
These four stories are not about people who set out to make their lives worth living. In our societies we often do the opposite: build a life by the strength of our qualities, our choices and our will, "inventing a life for ourselves."
Abraham learned this by experience. Things went well when God spoke, and badly when he wanted to speak first: the lie to protect himself during the famine, the child he wanted to have on his own after waiting so long. Each time, harmful consequences followed.
Moses also wanted to act first, and it went badly: "That is not how you are going to save the people." In front of the bush that does not burn up, God speaks, and it changes everything.
"God calls. So listen, so wait. So wait until he calls you."

3. It Is Up to Us to Answer

The pastor points out that this applies to women too, and in particular to the one who carried the Lord. Without the exact words, Mary has the same reality of heart: "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord" (Luke 1:38).
God waits for this answer, and it determines the whole trajectory. Without an answer, Moses stays a shepherd in the desert. Without an answer, Samuel stays a child who, instead of resembling his God, will come to resemble his master.
"We are not invited to admire but to reproduce their example." It is not enough to read these texts and say "what a wonderful story."
It often comes down to a journey. The Moses of the bush is no longer the one who killed the Egyptian: things changed because he walked a road.
The pastor tells of a conversation, during the welcome at the Alpha course, with a young man who seemed to be hearing the word "pastor" for the first time. "You are not late if you discover faith today. You are right on time, the hour God planned for you. You are not in a race with the person next to you. You are in an endurance race with yourself, to hold on until the end of your life, faithful to what God will reveal to you."

4. A Prepared Heart

Genesis 22 gives the impression that it is almost easy. Yet Abraham had believed he would never have a child. He had received the promise of being the father of a multitude without a single child in his house, to the point of telling God that only his servant would be able to inherit from him.
All of this prepared his heart. If he rises early in the morning to obey (Genesis 22:3), it is at the end of a road of preparation.
Isaiah answers "send me" with vigor because in an instant he understood that the limits he thought he knew do not exist: it is better to follow this great God than to fight with your own strength.
Samuel, despite his young age, was prepared: consecrated by his mother, an answer to her prayers, brought to the one who could teach him, in spite of the shortcomings of that teaching.
"We also have to watch over our heart, because to be able to truly answer 'Here I am, I want to follow you,' that has to be clear."

5. Firm Resolutions That Lead to Obedience

"Here I am" means: I am here to serve you, to obey, to act. Abraham takes his son to the mountain the very next day. The New Testament will say that he thought God was able to raise him from the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19).
Moses' path goes "from the gold of the palace to the smell of the flock." No one would sketch that out while asking where they see themselves in five years. But that path solidified his resolutions, and keeping a flock was easy compared to leading the people through the desert.
All four obey. Moses goes back to Egypt in spite of his negotiations. Samuel receives the worst prophecy possible: telling Eli, his father figure, that it is over (1 Samuel 3:11-18). Isaiah carries messages that will only be fulfilled centuries later, up to the coming of the Lord.
"If obeying depends on someone explaining to you what you are going to go through, it is no longer obedience, it is just knowledge."
We have to stop asking God to tell us the end of the story before taking the first step. "Do you think Peter would have gotten out of the boat if he had known that after 30 seconds he would doubt, that he would almost drown? That is what faith is."

6. Ahead of You, Something Greater

Abraham did not have the Bible in his pocket. He moved forward with the knowledge of his own experience. These men were foreshadowings of what would one day be accomplished.
The pastor does not say that obeying is easy because Jesus accomplished everything. He says that from the moment you answer "Here I am," a path opens before you of transformation, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and salvation for others.
The obstacles are no longer obstacles, because the God who reigns is greater. "The cross is empty. The tomb is empty," because Jesus Christ has conquered death.
It can also become a tragedy if we settle for saying "present," sitting on a chair every Sunday. "Here I am" means being ready to act, to obey and to walk in what God has planned.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path" (Psalm 119:105). We are used to pressing a button so that everything lights up. The lamp of old, carried in the hand, lit the way step by step. With God, you do not check the GPS to verify every street of the route: he waits for a "Here I am," in the confidence that he takes care of you.

7. The "Here I Am" of Your Life

In a room of three or four hundred people, one or two will perhaps be called to a visible ministry. "But 100% of the people in this place are called to answer 'Here I am' to God."
The pastor tells how, twenty-five or twenty-six years earlier, in the middle of teenage rebellion, he went reluctantly to a ski camp in Gap. He had no desire to hear about Jesus or to have anyone pray for him.
A couple of friends had once decided to set aside vacation time to lead children's camps. That morning, arriving at the service, he met that couple again: the husband was the one who had prayed for him one evening at the camp. He still remembers the chair, its color, the window. "I know that on that day, a work was done in my heart." His rebellion lasted about another year and a half.
He addresses the parents of a difficult teenager: the parents persevere, they sign up, they save, they pay, and on the other side there are people who said "Here I am."
Your "Here I am" may be to become a youth leader, to answer the call to a certain profession, to change the way you consume or live in order to free up time for your family or your neighborhood and be a witness.
"Do not neglect your here I am. It may seem insignificant, it may seem small, but it is decisive because it is going to tip your life over." Abraham's "Here I am" confirmed the prophecy over his life and the destiny of a people. Samuel's raised up an upright man in Israel, at the end of the long period of the judges.

Key Takeaways

"Here I am" does not mean "present": it means "I am here, ready to act and to obey."
God is the one who calls and who writes the story. When we want to speak first, like Abraham and Moses, it goes badly.
God waits for your answer. You are not invited to admire these examples but to reproduce them, wherever you are on your journey.
Obeying without knowing what comes next is what faith is. The Word of God lights the way step by step.
A "Here I am" that seems small can tip a life over, yours or someone else's.

Personal Application

Where in your life do you know exactly that you said no to God?
In what area are you trying to "invent a life for yourself" instead of waiting for God to call?
Do you ask God to tell you the end of the story before taking the first step?
Does your faith come down to saying "present" on Sunday, or to saying "Here I am, ready to act"?
What concrete "Here I am" is God putting on your heart right now: serving children, a career choice, time for your family or your neighbors?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "Here I am" mean in the Bible?

It is an everyday Hebrew expression meaning "I am here." Abraham also uses it to answer his son Isaac (Genesis 22:7). For Samuel Salmeron, it is not a simple "present": it is "I am here, ready to act, ready to respond to whatever will be asked of me." When it is God who calls, this answer opens a path of obedience.

Do we need to know where God is leading us before saying "Here I am" to him?

No. The preacher points out that Samuel did not know he would have to announce Eli's judgment, nor Isaiah the weight of his ministry. "If obeying depends on someone explaining to you what you are going to go through, it is no longer obedience, it is just knowledge." The Word of God is a lamp that lights the way step by step.

Is "Here I am" only for those called to ministry?

No. Out of three or four hundred people, says Samuel Salmeron, one or two will perhaps be called to a visible ministry, but 100% are called to answer "Here I am" to God. It might mean leading a children's camp, choosing a career, changing the way you consume, or freeing up time for your family and neighbors.