Isaiah 59:1-4, 6b-9

Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.

Bible Reading

Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear to dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil…Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace. So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.

– Isaiah 59:1-4, 6b-9

Devotion

Isaiah reminds Israel that it was their sins that had brought about their sad state. Religion had become a cover-up for their sins. God refused to hear because of their sin, not because He was hard of hearing. In verse twenty, Isaiah prophesies that there will be a day in the future when Israel would repent of her sins. In short, sin separates us from God. There is no sugar coating this fact. Sin is a universal problem! According to Isaiah, the Messiah, the promised One from God would be the universal solution for our sin problem. Paul echoes this same truth in the book of Romans, “For all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. For the wages of sin is death.” Here death is eternal separation from God. Paul goes on to say, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Big Question

Are there times in your spiritual journey when you feel like God is not hearing your prayers? Have you stopped to consider what in your life might be interfering in your communication with God? Have you received God’s gift of mercy and forgiveness by trusting in the Suffering Servant who was sent to reconcile the world to God?

Conclude your time in prayer and silence reflecting on what God revealed to you today.