Passage Reading: Isaiah 64-66
In light of the hope of God’s coming promise, and the desperate situation of the present, we see Isaiah crying out to God that He would come and act. “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). He points out how the Lord is a God who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him (64:4). This is how God has acted historically, so surely, He will be faithful to act in the future. Right?
Surely, many of us cry out to God in our times of need. We call on God when we see issues arising in our nation and problems on the world stage. These are good things to do and much of Scripture teaches us the importance of prayer and bringing our needs, anxieties, and concerns to the Lord in prayer. Certainly we should call on God and plead for His intervention in our messed up world!
However, just as mankind calls to God, God calls to man, and how often do we answer? Isaiah calls to God, and God recounts how Israel had ignored Him. He says, “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me” (65:1). Yet, the people rejected God through their lives of sin and idolatry (65:2-7). We know from the New Testament that this eventually results with the inclusion of the Gentiles, for Israel rejected their Messiah (see John 1:11).
God explains that he is looking for, “he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (66:2) and He offers another criticism of those who had rejected the call, “when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight” (66:4).
We probably all pray somewhat regularly, at least we should. We call out to God, and we know that He is a faithful God. But will He find faithfulness with us? That’s a better question. When He calls us, do we report for duty, or do we ignore the call?
Seeing both how Isaiah called out to God and how God’s call to Israel was unanswered, reminded me of the time when God called Isaiah, many chapters ago in our reading. God was looking for one to send on His mission, and Isaiah answered., “Here I am! Send me” (6:8).
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8, ESV
In all your calling to God, have you answered His call to you? In seeking for God to act on our behalf, do we ever act on His? Will you follow in Isaiah’s path and say, “Here I am!”? Remember, we’re here to do His bidding, He’s not here just to do ours.
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