Every year towards fall I pray and ask God to give me a word for the next year. Something to hone in on. Something to study. Something that helps define and refine what my focus should be.
I’ve gotten words like joy. Faith. Trust. Trust. And trust again. One year it was contend. That was a fun one. Increase. Impact. Deeper. Jump. Every word for each year has taken me on a journey in God that has drawn me closer to His heart.
September came and went last year with no word. October sped by. No word. November…nothing. December, nothing still. As long as I’ve been seeking Him on this, He’s never failed to speak a word to my heart.
But in 2020, I kept seeking but He didn’t speak. It wasn’t until I was on an early morning walk on January 1, 2021 that the pieces fell together and I knew what the focus of my year was going to be.
Hineni. (הנני)
It’s not even an English word. The story of how it came is too long to share here, but it was very definitive.
Hineni.
It’s Hebrew and it stands for 3 little words in English. Here I am.
It’s not saying, “Here I am,” like when the teacher is calling roll in elementary school. “Toni?” “Here!”
No, it’s much more powerful than that. It’s a commitment. It means total surrender. A complete readiness to give oneself wholly no matter what the assignment. Even before you know the assignment.
The first place I found it was in Genesis 22 when God called to Abraham and he replied, “Hineni.” Then God asked him to sacrifice his son. And he held nothing back.
Right before I received this word, I read this devotional from December 26th in Joy & Strength by Mary Tileson. It resounded in my heart and I pray it moves your heart to deeper commitment like it moved mine.
They loved not their lives unto death. Revelation 12:11
“If He has done so much for me, what can I do for Him?” is the question every Christian life should answer. He may ask little or much. He may demand heroic sacrifices, or He may require only punctual attention to daily and prosaic duty. But He has a right to make any demands He will, and it should be a point of honor with every Christian to satisfy him. It is this simple self-surrender, in a spirit of love for God and for the souls of men, which makes life strong and noble.
Henry Parry Liddon
God is waiting for the church to reply Hineni when he calls. Whether it’s to go to the mission field, spend time in prayer for the field you’re living in, or simply to love your enemy, God needs a church whose lives are asking and answering the question, “What can I do for Him?”
The head will do nothing apart from the body in this earth. We are waiting for some sovereign move of God to pour out over the sides of heaven apart from us while God is waiting for His church to answer the call, “Who can we send? Who will go for us?” with the eternal word, “Hineni.”
What He needs to do on this earth will not be done apart from the church but through the church.
He may send you to Bible school or He may just ask you to whisper His love to the stranger in line behind you at the grocery store. He may send you to Nepal or ask you to just open your eyes to see the harvest field all around you.
It’s not a select few whose lives should be consumed like Jesus’ was with the thought, “I must be about my Father’s business.” If you’re a child of God, He wants you consumed with what consumes Him – the precious fruit of the earth.
“If He has done so much for me, what can I do for Him?”
How is your life answering this question? What can you do to more fully surrender to the Lord? There’s a lost and dying world waiting for you to give your Hineni to the Lord. Will you do it today?
