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A beautiful Hebrew phrase appears at important times in the Old Testament: Hineni, Here I am! When God calls Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham answers, "Hineni, Here I am!" (Genesis 22:1, NRSV). I am ready to do whatever you say. Moses hears a voice calling from the burning bush: "Moses, Moses," and he answers immediately: "Hineni, Here I am!" (Exodus 3:4). Isaiah receives his prophetic calling in a vision in which God says: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah cries out: "Hineni! Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).
This spontaneous response of a faithful disciple reechoes in the Bible, and it is wonderful and thrilling to hear. But even more wonderful is Hineni when God says it to us. Isaiah encourages us with these prophetic words: “You shall call, and the Lord will answer, / you shall cry for help, and he will say: Hineni, Here I am!” (Isaiah 58:9). I am ready to help you, God says, and I want to be with you. The same promise is voiced in Psalm 91, a standard part for centuries of the Compline prayer with which the Church sends us to bed: “All who call upon me I will answer; / I will be with them in distress” (verse 15).
What could be more comforting and consoling in my distress than to know that the God of the universe is…
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