Merciful Father

The Creator of the Universe, God, wants to be with us. From the beginning of human time, God has placed himself into our lives. In the very garden He walked and talked with his creation. Could there be any other reason that He would step down and tarry with mankind except that it was his desire?

And though it is obviously His desire to be in an intimate relationship with us, since the fall man has continually and repeatedly shunned God. We have tried to replace the irreplaceable. Even though it is within His power to prevent such a travesty, He does not. He allows man the undeserved freedom to draw away and separate from God. He allows man the undeserved freedom to sin and to reap the consequences of his sin. I believe that He grieves for each person who makes such a choice. I believe that is the very nature of a good father that he allows his children their freedom yet weeps over their consequential suffering.

My study today continues in Isaiah 64:1-9. My focus comes to bear upon v7-9 (NIV) today where it is written;

7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and made us waste away because of our sins.
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look upon us, we pray,
for we are all your people.

[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

In V7, the prophet acknowledges that the people, the nation no longer call upon the powerful and potent name of God. They have laid aside their most powerful weapon against the forces of darkness and embraced their sinful natures. They no longer seek His face or to have any understanding of Him at all. What a desolate despair they must have felt to have willingly and willfully laid aside all hope and to eschew the source of all love.

The prophet acknowledges that God has turned aside His face. I believe that He could not bear to look upon their sinfulness. Though He did not leave nor forsake them, He remained in His place steadfastly, He had to avert His eyes. And in their freedom, the unrepentant reaped the consequences of their sin and wasted away.

This pattern is repeated throughout all of history and with every repetition, the results are always the same.

V8 is a reminder that through it all, despite their wickedness, despite OUR wickedness, The Lord is ever still our Father and Creator. In His skillful hands, we are but clay; incapable of making ourselves into anything useful. But if we allow Him to apply His craft to the raw material that is our muddy selves, a true work will emerge. In Ephesians 2:10 we read "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." So it was in the beginning, so it is now, so shall it be forevermore.

V9 is a cry for mercy to The Lord. I am quite certain that each of us in our own way have made similar utterances. When we find ourselves overwhelmed by the consequences of our choices, we cry out to Him. When we find ourselves defeated by circumstance beyond our own control, we turn to Him and cry 'mercy!' So too it is with the prophet. He cries to The Lord not to allow His anger to become immeasurable for that would spell the destruction of us all. He cries out to The Father to purposefully forget our sinfulness. For despite our stupidity, despite our sinfulness, despite our nature, despite everything we are YOUR people. Please God, look our way and intervene.

My body trembles and my soul quakes as I read these passages. I cannot help but draw parallels between our current situation as people and as a nation to the people and nation in this passage. I cannot help but be amazed that despite our 'modern' advances we are yet in the midst of making the same mistake Israil made. God has turned His face away from us in our prideful sinfulness.

So to the lamentation of Jeremiah and to the lamentations of Isaiah, I add my own. O Lord that you would come down and make your name known to your enemies and cause the nation to quake before you! The remnant of your people sees the coming destruction and we are powerless before it. We need you O God to fix this mess.

Your Adopted Son,
Carl