Start Your Sunday With Our Daily Devotion

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2022

TEXT: Isaiah 64:1-12

1. If only You would tear the heavens open [and] come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence-

2. as fire kindles the brushwood, and fire causes water to boil- to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that nations will tremble at Your presence!

3. When You did awesome deeds that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains quaked at Your presence.

4. From ancient times no one has heard, no one has listened, no eye has seen any God except You, who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.

5. You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember You in Your ways. But we have sinned, and You were angry; we will remain in Your ways and be saved.

6. All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteousness acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

7. No one calls on Your name, striving to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity.

8. Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands.

9. LORD, do not be terribly angry or remember [our] iniquity forever. Please look- all of us are Your people!

10. Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11. Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.

12. LORD, after all this, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict severely?

(Holmans CS Holy Bible)

TOPIC: THE PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL

Man relates to God according to his true knowledge of God. Man cannot praise or pray to God beyond his knowledge of Him. This fact is clearly manifested in today’s text.

Prophet Isaiah represented the whole of Israel’s faithful in this prayer. Thus his use of “we” and “us” in the prayer. He did not exempt himself, even when he confessed their terrible sins against God. The prayer has three phases. The first has to do with the greatness of God and the salvation of His people (vs. 1-5a).

The prayer presents God’s glorious appearance and His mighty power. God is described here as glorious and fearful! You can feel God’s awesomeness as He moves from heaven to the earth as a mighty King and great warrior! Thus He could conquer and humiliate nations and save Israel.

The second phase is the confession of the sins of Israel. The prophet lamented that despite the multiple blessings and salvation that Israel enjoyed from God, they turned away from Him which created a big gap between them and their God. Therefore, they were chastised by God.

And, third, the prophet presented his supplication to the Lord (vs. 8-12). He prayed for forgiveness and restoration of the glory of the land and its people. This should be the true life of the faithful. We are challenged to always check our relationship with God.

QUESTION: How does your prayer reflect your knowledge of God?

PRAYER: O Lord, reveal Yourself more to me so that I can pray with sincerity, in Jesus name, Amen.