I can think of three places in the Bible where someone says this prayer. There’s Abraham when he was tested and asked to take his son Isaac up to the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice.
When God first called him, Abraham said, “Here I am.”
Or in the New Testament in the Book of Acts, the disciple named Ananias was told to go to the man named Saul who had been blinded on the road to Damascus and heal Saul of his blindness through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
When God called to Ananias in a vision, Ananias said, “Here I am.”
And then there was the prophet Samuel when he was a young man serving the old priest Eli. Three times he heard the voice of God calling him and three times he thought it was Eli.
Each time he said to Eli, “Here I am, for you called me.”
“No, I didn’t call,” Eli said again and again until that third time he realized that Samuel had heard the Lord. That’s who was calling him.
The next time the Lord called, Samuel was ready. “Speak,” he said, “for your servant is listening.”
The Bible is full of many prayers, long and short ones, poetic expressions like the psalms or honest heartfelt pleas like the man who told Jesus, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” (Haven’t we all been there?)
But there’s something straightforward and open about not asking God for anything, not pushing for any favors, but just opening yourself up and saying, “Here I am.”
When anyone in the Bible says, “Here I am,” something happens.
Put yourself in a quiet place and let your yearning for God be known. “Here I am,” you can say. Let something happen.
