30 More Days... Day 25

Is. 63:7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD
And the praises of the LORD,
According to all that the LORD has bestowed on us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,
According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.
Is. 63:8 For He said, “Surely they are My people,
Children who will not lie.”
So He became their Savior.
Is. 63:9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
And He bore them and carried them
All the days of old.
Is. 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit;
So He turned Himself against them as an enemy,
And He fought against them.
Is. 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old,
Moses and his people

Is. 64:5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways.
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—
In these ways we continue;
And we need to be saved.
Is. 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
Is. 64:7 And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have consumed us because of our iniquities.
Is. 64:8 But now, O LORD,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
Is. 64:9 Do not be furious, O LORD,
Nor remember iniquity forever;
Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!

Neh. 9:16 “But they and our fathers acted proudly,
Hardened their necks,
And did not heed Your commandments.
Neh. 9:17 They refused to obey,
And they were not mindful of Your wonders
That You did among them.
But they hardened their necks,
And in their rebellion
They appointed a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

When you have a chance go back and glimpse through Isaiah 63:7-64:12 and Nehemiah 9.
It is these prayers which bring some confusion and great comfort. I read them and in so many ways they are similar. The people praying to God. They recognize His holiness, power, love, kindness, worth, goodness, mercy, grace, compassion, protection, guidance, revelation, provision, blessing, miracles, sovereignty and etc... They go back to their history. They go back and remember God’s acts on their behalf. They remember how God called Abraham. They remember Egypt and God’s mighty hand. They remember Sinai and the law. They are full of praise and remembrance. Yet they are coming at a time of moral low. They are coming when they have been sinful. They come, often, when they have been punished and then God punishes but even in that punishment is gracious. We hear their prayers and see their words. They show up often. They show up too often. It becomes repetitious and starts to sound empty. What more can be said about such prayers? We have seen them before. We have dealt with their content and ideas. We know them.

They are our prayers too. How often do our prayers look like this? How often do our prayers sound the same. We recognize all that the holiness and greatness of God entails. We remember His past mercies. We prevail on Him for the present asking for similar mercies. How many times?

How often have you prayed and felt that your prayers sounded empty. It was not that they weren’t sincere. It was not a formula. There is honesty and fear in those prayers. There is a desire to do better, to do what is right, to please God. There is a desire to live according to God’s design and desire. It is just that we find ourselves in that same place again. God we are here praying. We are here praising. We are here asking for forgiveness. We are here asking for mercy. We know we don’t deserve it. And after praying and praying. After petition followed by petition to God we wonder why He bothers with us. Why is His mercy is poured out again? Doesn’t it sound empty? Doesn’t it sound vain? We see these prayers over and over and we pray such prayers over and over.

It is confusing. Why should God hear us? Why should He listen and be attentive to such prayers when we have proven ourselves anything but faithful over and over again. It gets depressing and the weight of our sin and rebellion weigh on us. It doesn’t make sense. Yet, it does.

It is comforting to know that God is looking for us to return to Him. Fall after fall, sin after sin, God is waiting for us to cry out to Him. It is not that He looks lightly on our prayers, our words, our actions or our sins. It is that He loves us. He is full of grace, abounding in love, ready to bless, ready to forgive, ready to stand by those that call on Him.

They appointed a leader
To return to their bondage.
But You are God,
Ready to pardon,
Gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger,
Abundant in kindness,
And did not forsake them.

Is. 63:15 Look down from heaven,
And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious.
Where are Your zeal and Your strength,
The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me?
Are they restrained?
Is. 63:16 Doubtless You are our Father,
Though Abraham was ignorant of us,
And Israel does not acknowledge us.
You, O LORD, are our Father;
Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.

They could say these things with confidence. Even though they didn’t deserve it, this is God’s character. Slow to anger. Abounding in love. Ready to forgive and redeem. “Redeemer from Everlasting” is Your name! It is not a matter of how many times, but that we come to Him. We are not trying to frustrate His grace... take advantage of it. It is not an excuse to sin so that “grace may abound”. It is not that we should not strive to “be holy as He is holy”. It is not a matter of making promises only then to break them. We need to keep our promises. We need to wrestle, to “bring [our body] under subjection”. But also we need to remember, as Solomon prayed in dedicating the temple...

“When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin)...”

that we can cry out to God and He will judge in justice and mercy, compassion and truth. Our biggest mistake would be not to entreat Him. Our greatest failure not to look to Him and repent before Him. So they come bring prayer of confession and contrition. They come remembering who God is and calling out to Him. They come before Him honestly, openly. We see once more the incredible grace of God. If there were any temptation to think that we could somehow obtain by ritual and religion what only the grace of God can provide it should be quashed here. If there were ever a temptation to parade some “good works” before Him we can see they are “filthy rags”. It is when we come to this point that it becomes easier to then admit

We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.

Prayer Request
*Please pray for Robbie, Svetlana and David and also for Igor and Katya (plus one on the way). They are Slovene/Russian couples that we have met and gotten to know a little bit. They are kind of special to us and we identify well with them. Please pray that we would be able to be an encouragement, help and witness to them. Pray that they would be softened to the gospel. Pray for Katya as she is due in another month or so for safe delivery and healthy baby.