Isaiah 63:15-16 – Where Are You, God?
The next 19 verses are verses of pleading from the repentant remnant of Israel. We start out with near despair and fear of having been abandoned. It’s as though Isaiah fears that God is paying no attention anymore. At one time the people of God were blessed by His goodness. Even when they sinned, He brought them to repentance. He delivered them in wonderful ways. But it doesn’t seem to be happening anymore. They were almost fearing that there was no mercy left for them. They were considering Him who must look down upon them. But even that was rather a disquieting thought. For they were seeing their terrible character. These are truly people of faith, but they are weak, and they have stumbled badly. They are not unbelievers, but how low they are! The Spirit of God, however, is getting their attention.
God is zealous for His people because He loves them and has loved them forever. God is strong. The people of God know that. The problem is this: We don’t see His deliverance happening. The forces of idolatry, the forces of wickedness, just seem to be getting worse and worse. The people of God are saying ‘we don’t see Jehovah acting forcefully, zealously, according to His holy will.’ And we have no strength to put off our enemies, no strength to change ourselves. We can’t even deal with our own sin. The people of God wonder, are God’s mercies restrained? Has God rejected us? For the believer, this is the worst thing possible, if such a thing could happen.
So — is God no longer willing to save? Is the yearning of Christ’s heart gone for us? Have we offended past the point of no return? These are not really the words of a reprobate person or of a reprobate people. This is the heart agony of a tender soul in deep repentance over sin, doubting, but by God’s grace in Christ, hanging, holding, hoping beyond hope onto Christ. This is the agony of God’s people of the Church, under discipline, not rejection, under purification, not being tossed aside. For you see that although the remnant were agonizing over all of this, they were running after God, not running from Him. And that can only happen by saving grace. They were pursuing their God, their Redeemer, their Father, Whom they called ‘our Father’ in verse 16. They continue to call Him that. Such a thing is impossible for unbelievers. All this was good evidence that the remnant was still indeed the true people of God and could expect God’s evident favour. He would yet show it. They would yet see his zeal and strength.
Question
- What are the people concerned about?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that God will never abandon His people.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.