God, We Need You

“Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me. For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.” (Isaiah‬ ‭63‬:‭15‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

Sometimes we seem to be blind to the inevitable. We know that making certain choices will not bode well for us, but we make those choices anyway. Then we look back and wonder why we were so stupid. At least, that’s what I do. I don’t think I’m unique in my stupidity. Maybe I’m just being hopeful that I’m not alone in that but you tell me, do you do the same thing? Do you ever look back at the choices you’ve made and think, “Why on earth did I do that? That was stupid. I know better.” In a very real sense, that’s what Isaiah essentially says to God’s people in our focal passage. 

Last week’s passage drew upon those historical events and memories from Israel’s past as a basis for hope in their present circumstances. Remember what God has done in your past so that you can see what He’s capable of doing today. We need to be reminded of that in our faith journey. We need to see who God is, what He’s done, and be reminded of what He’s capable and desirous of doing in us, today. Maybe it would help if you went back and read Isaiah 63:11-14, again. Let’s dive in and see what Isaiah’s prayer in our focal passage can tell us about what God wants to do in our lives.

If you’ll recall, the watchmen were challenged to cry out to God in prayer and to be incessant in their appeals to Him on the people’s behalf (Is. 62:6-7). These verses appear to be the personal fulfillment of that general call by Isaiah. He is crying out to God on behalf of the people and, in doing so, calls upon God to remember His past actions towards them and to act, today, in similar fashion. The beginning of the prayer seems to be a direct reference to Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8:30. It is a plea for God to look down from His “holy and beautiful habitation” or dwelling place in heaven upon the urgent needs of His people. Like Solomon’s original prayer for God to inhabit the Temple, Isaiah uses the same wording to call upon God to inhabit His hurting people.

There seems to be a bit of intentional contrast between God’s “holy and beautiful habitation” and the people’s dwelling place. If Jerusalem and the Temple had been God’s dwelling place, it no longer displays His power and presence. God had shown zeal, might and compassion upon them in the past, they needed that powerful presence, again. “Where are your zeal and might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me.”

Where is God’s zeal and might? I think that’s a question we often ask ourselves. I think that’s a question our culture asks of us. If God is real, why don’t we see Him at work in our world? There are times when God seems to be distant, withdrawn or absent from our lives. I know I’ve felt that way and I suspect you have, too. However, we are assured in scripture that God’s grace is readily seen in the world around us (see Matt. 5:44-45). If God was really absent, our world would not continue to exist. But there’s little doubt that we have a tendency to take God’s grace for granted and to withdraw from Him.

That’s really what this prayerful cry in Isaiah is all about. Not only must the watchman alert the people to the dangers they face, he must also make incessant prayers to God on behalf of the people. Isaiah prays: God, something is dreadfully wrong with us! We don’t feel you and your power among us. We need you. We DESPERATELY need you, now! Where are you? It seems like your deep, deep heart felt love for us and your compassion are being withheld from us. God is not absent, else the evil in this world would completely overwhelm us and everything in it. God is present and always at work, we just don’t sense Him. His deep felt “stirring” and “compassion” seem to be gone. But why and what can we do about it? 

Isaiah tells us why God is withholding these things from them: “For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” They are God’s children, but Abraham wouldn’t recognize them. They are Israelites, but Israel wouldn’t acknowledge it. They belong to God but there’s no evidence of it in how they are living. Abraham is their forefather, but they bear very little resemblance to him and his faith in God. They are of Israel but you can’t tell it by their pursuit of God. They are God’s people in name only, there’s no demonstration of that reality in their lives.

When a fire begins to burn low, if it isn’t tended it will go out. That’s an apt description of their lives. God’s zeal and power were absent because they failed to be diligent in tending the fires of their faith. Does that describe your spiritual life? Is that the condition of your relationship with God, right now? Do you feel as if God is holding back on His love and compassion for you? If so, you need to stoke the fire not ignore it or hope it will rekindle on its own. The fires of faith are stoked by the truths of His Word, the worship of His glory and righteousness, the steadfastness of His promises, and submission to His Spirit. Listen to how Isaiah words it: “You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” That’s fuel being thrown on the fire of his faith.

Next, Isaiah confronts their wandering ways. “O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?” Is Isaiah blaming God for their wandering? No, it is Isaiah’s way of showing them that their own choices have caused God’s deep felt love and compassion for them to withheld. Our choices have consequences. The fact that the people would be unrecognizable by Abraham and disavowed by Israel as God’s people is resulting in His love and compassion being withheld and it causes a hardening of their hearts towards God and loss of holy fear before Him.

Look around you, do you not recognize these symptoms? As we’ve pushed away from God our hearts have hardened towards him and we’ve lost all sense of holy fear before Him. Is that what He wants? Does He force us away? Our sin forces us away from His presence and that results in the hardening of our hearts towards Him and no sense of fear before Him. In many ways, it feels as though our culture thumbs its nose at God, His Word, authority and His absolute sovereignty. In many ways, this same attitude has leached into the lives of some who call themselves Christian. Isaiah’s words should be ringing loudly in our ears.

Oh church, be aware that our faith can grow colder and colder until there’s little evidence we even belong to God. Abraham would not recognize us and Israel would not acknowledge us. What do we need? Isaiah tells us: “O LORD… Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.” What do we need? We need HIM! We need to fall before our God and cry out for Him to return to His people. O LORD, we need a revival. We need You to come among us and rekindle our ebbing fires of faith. Keep us from wandering. Do whatever is necessary to overwhelm our apathetic faith with Your zeal and Your might. We need the wind of your Spirit to blow across the dim embers of our belief and cause them to burst into full flame, once again. “Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage!” 

Jeremiah echos Isaiah’s words: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬)

What do we do next? How do we get God to hear our pleas for His help and mercy? Again, Isaiah tells us… “Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have become like those over who You have never ruled, like those who are not called by Your name.” It is time to humbly confess our sin, fall in contrition at His feet and seek God’s mercy, forgiveness and restoration. God hears and responds when we get honest and humble in His presence. If we remain distant and prideful, we will never know His zeal and might.

If we want God’s presence, it only comes to those who diligently seek Him, those who desire Him more than we desire anything else in life. He won’t show up if we’re just trying to squeeze time in with Him in between sports games. He’s not bound by our demanding schedules and our self-imposed worship time constraints. He’s not fooled by our self-centered worship, religious concerts, self-help focused sermonettes and hollow sacrifices. He’s not waiting on you to give Him an hour of your time on a Sunday morning. He knows our intent and the secrets of our hearts. He’s waiting on you to give it all up to Him, to yield control and authority, to hand Him the key and title deed to it all. 

THEN He will show up… and you’ll know it! Then it won’t matter what’s on your schedule or how long it takes. You won’t care. Because when God shows up, nothing else matters. Do you want Him enough so that everything else becomes irrelevant? That’s what it takes. Do you want Him more than life itself? Jesus says, if you try to preserve your life you’ve lost it but if you’ll sacrifice your life you’ll find it. We get that backwards, we think we get life by leaving God out and all we get is death. When we embrace dying to self, we discover life in all of its glory and goodness.

So, what do you want more than anything else? God, His presence and life as He promises or life as you want to define it? Be careful, your choices have consequences.