March 21st

Take some time to thoughtfully read the passage below:

“Look down from heaven and see from Your holy and glorious lofty habitation; Where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds? The stirrings of Your heart and Your compassion are restrained toward me. 16 For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us And Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from ancient times is Your name. 17 Why, Lord, do You cause us to stray from Your ways and harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage. 18 Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while, our adversaries have trampled it down. 19 We have become like those over whom You have never ruled, Like those who were not called by Your name.” (Isaiah 63:15-19)

Isaiah’s prayer begins: “Look down from heaven and see…”  What does Isaiah want God to see?  He wants him to see the people whose ancestors God swore to bless through Abraham (see Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-20).  However, Isaiah acknowledges at the beginning of his prayer that God is not only aware of Israel’s situation, but that he has deep feelings for them.  God deeply feels for his people, and this is why Isaiah continues: “For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from ancient times is Your name.” (v. 16).  As a loving Father, God, by his very nature, redeems those who are lost.  God not only redeems his children, but he is deeply concerned that we become what we were meant to become.  Isaiah continues in his prayer in 64:8, “But now, Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter, and all of us are the work of Your hand.”

It was hard for Israel to see God as a loving Father, because they were currently experiencing his discipline because of their sins; God warned his people over and over again that if they ever decided to worship other gods or habitually violate his commands that they would be disciplined like a father disciplines a child. Isaiah prays to God: “Look down from heaven and see…”  as if God wasn’t watching. Later, Isaiah prays: “Oh, that You would tear open the heavens and come down...” as if he were far off.  But when you come to Isaiah 65:1, we learn that God never left, but has been seeking his wayward children: “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’ To a nation which did not call on My name.”

What I read in Isaiah reminds me that I can behave the same way, and my guess is that you probably feel the same way.  How many times have you questioned where God wandered off to in the pilgrimage of your life?  Have you ever stopped to ask during those seasons in your life if it was you who wandered off?  The reality is that we have a God who is greater than our sins and seeks and saves regardless of the fact that it is we who have wandered away.  However, the good news of the gospel is that there is no sin so great that God’s mercy, love, and grace will not overcome; if the cross of our dear Savior could speak, it would shout: Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked abandon his way, And the unrighteous person his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6-7).

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday in our 9AM and 11AM worship services!  Don’t forget that we will not be able to livestream our services due to safety concerns for our missionary who will be our guest speaker this Sunday.

Grace,

Pastor Keith