Isaiah 64:1-9 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 64:1-9 on biblegateway.com
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
This passage from the book of Isaiah gives voice to a powerful prayer—that God would enter this world with divine power and promise. "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down," the prophet cries. This Advent, as we prepare our hearts and our homes to receive the Christ child, we should remember that God has entered time, space and human existence—that God has torn open the heavens and is remaking our world from the ground up, the way a potter starts with a lump of clay and eventually creates a beautiful vessel. God is doing a new thing—can we perceive it?
Prayer
God of power and promise, we pray for your Advent in our lives and we thank you for your promises of love and faithfulness toward us and toward all creation. Teach us to bear witness to your coming near in all we say and do. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.