Daily Devotional Wednesday 28th June 2023

by William Moody

Isaiah 64

64:1   Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains might quake at your presence—
  1 as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
  to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
  When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
  From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
  no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
  You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
  Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?2
  We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
  We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
  There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
  for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in3 the hand of our iniquities.
  But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.
  Be not so terribly angry, O LORD,
    and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10   Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.
11   Our holy and beautiful4 house,
    where our fathers praised you,
  has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12   Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD?
    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Footnotes

[1] 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
[2] 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
[3] 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
[4] 64:11 Or holy and glorious

(ESV)

This is a heart felt appeal for God to break down through the heavens and come and rescue His people (v1). Isaiah is wanting the Lord to do what He did in the past in the days of Moses. Isaiah wants the people to be once terrified by the awesome presence of the Lord (v2-3) as in the days of Joshua and the conquest of the Promised Land.

Isaiah realises that the Lord has no equals and His burden is for the Lord’s greatness to be made known (v4). The problem though is that the Lord hears the prayers of His righteous people but Israel is far from righteous and so Isaiah confesses this (v5-8).

Isaiah though is not without hope and acknowledges that the Lord can do with them as He pleases (v8) and he appeals for compassion (v9-10). The temple where the Lord received praise has been burnt (v11) and Isaiah’s question is, can the Lord restrain Himself and not act (v12)?

Isaiah prays with great boldness, not from a position of conceit but as one who knows the Lord intimately and approaches with humble faith in the Lord’s goodness. In regards our needs, the needs of our families and our nation the greatest thing we can ever do is to appeal to this God of amazing power and love.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.