Isaiah 64

Isaiah 64:1, 3-4 NIV

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!

For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

My first thought, in reading the verses above, was that God making the mountains tremble didn't work out all that great in the past. When the people of Israel encountered God at Mt. Sinai, under the leadership of Moses, that is exactly what they experienced. They responded by running to Moses crying out, "You go talk to him and tell us what he said. We don't ever want to see him like that again." At least that's my loose translation.

Reading farther in this chapter of Isaiah, however, I realize that the force of this chapter is not about the lack of seeing or experiencing God. The focus of the chapter is in the fact that the people of God have not been experiencing God because of their sin. It is in this very acknowledgment and confession that the experience of God can really begin.

I read a blog the other day on myths of evangelicalism. The first myth addressed was the idea that we are not good enough for God, that we don't deserve his love. The author's take on this was that because we don't feel like we are good enough for God we therefore somehow miss how much we are loved by God. Personally I think that's sad because somehow feeling like I deserve God's love does nothing for my relationship with him. It causes me to take his love for granted. Of course God loves me. Just look at me. What's not to love. It is in recognizing that I am not good enough for God and yet he lavishly loves me that I begin to truly appreciate and enjoy his love.

In Isaiah 64 enjoying the love and power of God begins with acknowledging personal and corporate sin. Knowing and experiencing God's power and presence is contingent upon first admitting guilt. Father, forgive us for our faulty theologies that somehow make us feel like we deserve something from you. Our only hope lies in your grace. Today may we be honest enough to recognize our own guilt, acknowledge it freely to you and experience deeply your forgiveness and love.

By His grace,
Rick weinert