Make the heart of this people dull

Isaiah's vision keeps coming back to me. 

"Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed." [Is 6:10]

Why are men like Isaiah no longer going out to preach any more? Why is it one must only preach in a church?  Why is it preachers all want to "have" a church, and churches want to "have" a preacher?  Where are the itinerant preachers of yesteryear?  Where are the prophets and evangelists, street preachers and revivalists?

Of course, not all preachers should be this or the other.  That's not the point.  But there are so few of the kind that aren't owned, that it seems a shame.

My deepest fear is that the Sovereign Lord has shut them up, hemmed them in and squelched them, as the ultimate sign of his wrath against our nation.  I don't like this thought, this fear, this conclusion. I wish I could simply reject it.  But I don't know how else to explain the dire lack of those who will speak the gospel openly in the highways and hedges.

And I cannot explain why I also do not---cannot---go out as I desire and preach and teach openly.

Is it self-consciousness?  Perhaps that is why God told Isaiah to go naked for three years, to really overcome his worry about what people might think.  Perhaps it was really clear that they would not accept his word even if it had been delivered in gorgeous priestly robes, so why not give them something to talk about, and hopefully, at least to think about or laugh about.  A nudist prophet!  That really doesn't make sense to us, but obviously to God and Isaiah, it was exactly what the people needed.

I'm really still not sure it isn't just a gross lack of confidence.  I mean, like Gideon, I need a sign.  My key verse this year is God's commission to Gideon.

The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" [Judges 6:14, NIV]

Lord, if this is your will for me, to go and preach freely and openly, or at least to go and evangelize as I have been doing, please grant me the courage and strength to do so, and, forgive me, please, but if will help my weak faith, a sign.  IJNA