Thursday, October 14, 2010

Reflections on Isaiah 64

    Isaiah 64 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. Rip the heavens apart! Come down, LORD; make the mountains tremble.
  2. Be a spark that starts a fire causing water to boil. Then your enemies will know who you are; all nations will tremble because you are nearby.
  3. Your fearsome deeds have completely amazed us; even the mountains shake when you come down.
  4. You are the only God ever seen or heard of who works miracles for his followers.
  5. You help all who gladly obey and do what you want, but sin makes you angry. Only by your help can we ever be saved.
  6. We are unfit to worship you; each of our good deeds is merely a filthy rag. We dry up like leaves; our sins are storm winds sweeping us away.
  7. No one worships in your name or remains faithful. You have turned your back on us and let our sins melt us away.
  8. You, LORD, are our Father. We are nothing but clay, but you are the potter who molded us.
  9. Don't be so furious or keep our sins in your thoughts forever! Remember that all of us are your people.
  10. Every one of your towns has turned into a desert, especially Jerusalem.
  11. Zion's glorious and holy temple where our ancestors praised you has been destroyed by fire. Our beautiful buildings are now a pile of ruins.
  12. When you see these things, how can you just sit there and make us suffer more?



The prayer of the faithful remnant of Israel begun in 63:15 continues into this chapter. God is petitioned to demonstrate His power against His enemies. It is evidently presumed that Israel's enemies are also God's enemies. It has been a long time since the relationship between these petitioners and their God has been close enough that they have seen God perform "awesome deeds that we did not expect," (64:3) but they are remembering and wishing to see them again on their behalf.

The prevailing sin of Israel that has brought them to the present circumstances in which they are in exile has been idolatry. They turned away from their God to the so-called gods of other nations. But they now confess that "From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God except You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him." (64:4)  Faith is frequently referred to in scripture as a factor in answered prayer, but waiting is here considered the important factor, saying that God acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him. So in this passage, it is waiting that is important. The question comes to mind in discussions of faith in regard to prayer as to what it means to have faith. Is it a mental process of thinking strongly that a prayer will be answered? If not, then what? This reference in Isaiah 64:4 is, I believe, at least a partial answer to that question. Faith in prayer is demonstrated in waiting for God's answer. In my own journey of faith with God, waiting has seemed to be a frequent factor that has tested my faith. And the longer the wait, the greater the test. But as I have endured the wait, my faith has grown, and the outcome has been worth the wait.

Confession is also a factor in prayer, as this petitioner in Isaiah 64 demonstrates, confessing that Israel has "become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garmet." (64:6) It is not only the confession of sin that is important, but also the confession of who God is, and this petition states that God is their Father. And their relationship to God their Father is as clay to the potter. God is the potter and they, as the clay, are the work of His hands. God, as the focus of their faith, is the important element of faith and not their ability to have faith. Then, having confessed their sin and confessed that God is their Father and they are His people, they simply as God to look at their situation of desolation and act on their behalf.

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