The once glorious city is ruined. The temple where God lives is in ruins. Everything is a wasteland. God seemed absent and asleep.
In this situation, Isaiah prays to God. He has hope that God will intervene.
He asked God to not only come down - but to tear the heavens - with power and in haste. He is asking God to intervene so that people may know him and fear him. He is saying that when God comes down, the mountains quake at his presence. It will be frightful like fire burning a brushwood or boiling water. This is how his enemies will know him.
Then Isaiah recalls what God did. God does things that we do not expect. Things beyond what we had heard and seen. Nothing that we can think of can compare to what God will do. God has plans that are beyond our imagination. The mountains quake at your presence. God shakes things up for our benefit. When God moves, he changes things, he turns things upside down so that it will be clear that this is his work.
Isaiah longed for God to intervene yet, he remembers that God meets those who work righteousness and who remembers God's ways. He remembers that the reason for the destruction of their nation is because they have sinned. He knows and admits God's authority because he said that "we have been in sin for a long time; shall we be saved?" It is as if he were saying that they do not deserve to be saved. They deserve what is happening to them.
This in fact, is how we are. Humanity has sinned. No one is righteous before God. All our righteous works are like polluted garment before God. Everyone sins and everyone dies because of their sin. No one is exempt.
Then Isaiah turns around again and calls God Father. He calls God the potter - because he acknowledges that everyone is the work of God's hands. We all are at the mercy of God. God can do whatever he wishes to us.
With this in mind, he asks God to have mercy. He tells God not to remember their sins forever. Here, he acknowledges that God is eternal. He appeals to God's mercy. The reason he gave is "we are all your people". He appeals to God for mercy because of what God has done for them - God made them his people.
This prayer reminds us that even if there is darkness - even when things do not make sense, God is always there. When things are dark, we need to examine ourselves and remind ourselves that we are sinful. All these happen for a purpose - God is purifying us.
He is revealing his name to us. He wants us to see the great things he has in store for us.
When there is darkness, we examine ourselves and repent of our sins. God will come down and the earth will quake. He is turning our lives around. He is making a new creation. He is doing what he has planned for us. By dying to ourselves, we can get what God has planned for us.
We come to God not because of our righteousness. We come to God because of who he is and what he has made us. He is our Father. He is our Maker. He knows who we are. He knows our weaknesses and he knows what will make us strong.
God is an awesome God who does awesome things. God will move and when he moves, things will change.
For those who are in Christ, we look forward to the day when God will deliver us. The things we take pride of will be gone - because God will give us something better - he will be our pride and joy. We will boast in the Lord - because of the great things he has done for us.
Lord, come to my life. I offer to you everything that I take pride of. I offer to you every plan and dream I have. Take Lord and mould these according to your will. Break them O God. Descend from heaven with power. Let my life quake and be changed so that it can truly reflect your glory.
