Series: Advent
Isaiah 64:1-9 ESV
Exodus 19:17-18 ESV
The Prophet Isaiah is one of my “go to” people.
I love reading Isaiah’s words.
Isaiah essentially pleads, ‘COME’ Oh, God. ‘Intervene’, Oh, God!
Isaiah 64:1-9 says, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you;for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.”
As we read his words we realize that Isaiah remembers a time when God came. He remembers the miracle in Exodus 19:17-18, “Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.”
The story of Moses and the people of God on the mountain had been told to Isaiah many times throughout his life, and he remembered. He remembered the Lord descended in fire. He remembered the holy smoke and the day when the mountain trembled.
I have experienced more than one ‘time of waiting’ in my seven score years. I did not relish the waiting when I was young.
I fretted and cried.
I envisioned God being too busy to end my waiting.
But then, a man of wisdom told me there is great purpose in waiting for in our time of waiting we are ever so more attentive to God.
I was told waiting was a holy (set apart) time.
It took a while for me to process it but in time I came to understand.
God is not inattentive to us (ever). We are inattentive to God.
We are bust bees scurrying about.
WE are missing the point for our time of waiting is a special time to drink the holiness of God. God has not forgotten us but instead has a perfect gift for us.
That is the gift of sharing in the holiness of God.
It is a sacred time set apart so we can sit with God and drink in the holy silence.
Reading Isaiah’s words help us to know what he saw and felt.
He knew about the ‘quake’ we experience when we sit with God.
Isaiah KNEW about the fire of God.
Isaiah knew God yearns to meet those who joyfully desire the righteousness of God.
The prophet knew the character of man who easily loses his way.
And so, Isaiah surrendered to God. He admitted man is a lump of clay. He surrendered his clay to the God the potter.
As a child I remember singing ‘Have Thine Own Way’; thou art the potter, I am the clay.” (Pollard, Stebbins, 1907). When we sang it I would leave church singing the words. I could see God as the potter. I knew I was the clay.
It became a prayer.
Nothing has changed.
I am still the clay and God is the potter. Yet, I have to admit through the years I’ve grown to be willing to sit quietly as God molds and holds.
Let that be your prayer today.
Spiritual Practice: Sit in sacred space
Get to know the potter.
In God, Deborah
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