Isaiah 64:1-9 (NRSV)
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Chapter 64O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence- Verse 2as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil- to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! Verse 3When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. Verse 4From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. Verse 5You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed.
Verse 6We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Verse 7There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Verse 8Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Verse 9Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
Devotion
Isaiah reminds us that we have a living and active God who intervenes in every person’s, family’s, and nation’s life. We have a God to bring about both judgment and deliverance. This season of advent we invite this God to act in our life and in the lives of all people. We urge God to come and act now, not to wait, to ‘wow’ us, so as to make known once again mighty and awesome deeds.
Even with mixed feelings we still invite God to act, knowing we need the intervention. We know we need to be changed, yet we fear the changes may be more than we can bear. So we trust in God’s mercy and love.
We confess our past arrogance. Knowing we are but clay in the hands of the potter, we have had the audacity to instruct the potter how to shape us (Isa. 45:9). Look where this arrogance has gotten us! But we are bold once again to invite God to reshape us. This time we are willing. This time we will get it right.
Prayer
O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter. Shape us into the image of Jesus your Son. Amen.