God’s Surprising Answer

Isaiah 64:1 
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down!” (NKJV)

Do you ever felt like a pleading prayer to God, “Oh please come down, Lord! Make Yourself known to us?!” Isaiah felt that way and he pleaded to God, “Oh that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” [Isaiah 64:1-5 NLT].

Isaiah wanted God to “shake the nations” as He had in the past. He remembered the story in Scripture about God’s visit with Moses on Mt. Sinai, Isaiah longed for a repeat performance. But God had already told Isaiah that He would be doing something new. “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them” (42:9 NKJV). That “something new” was JESUS! God did indeed come down. But not in Isaiah’s lifetime and God did not come down in the dramatic fashion Isaiah longed for.

“Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens” (42:9 NLT). God gave the prophesy to Isaiah (42:1-9) that he, “Jesus Christ” will come down, but “He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street” (42:2 NKJV). He would come in a surprising form of a baby. I imagined that when Isaiah wrote the book, he might have read that portion again and realized that God already had answered his prayer, but in a different way this time.

Like Isaiah, we want God to do great things again. But God has something else in mind. Christ came to change our hearts, not just our circumstances. As we humble our hearts before Him, trusting God that He would do great miracles among us. So let’s trust Him!

Song: Let the Lord Have His Way

Let the Lord have His way

In your life every day.

There’s no rest, there’s no peace

“Till the Lord has His way;

Place your life in His hand

Feel secure in His plan ..

Let the Lord ..

Let the Lord have His way.

(Inspiring Choruses, from the church)