Isaiah: Cry of Desperation

Isaiah 64

Have you ever prayed a prayer of desperation? Pleaded with God from the depths of your soul? Lindsey screamed that prayer from her bathroom floor. Would God listen to her? Jen cried out from a hospital room, feeling broken by her son’s illness. Bill cried out in his car when a wave of grief from the loss of his wife overwhelmed him.

I will ask again: Have you ever prayed a prayer of desperation?

Sometimes when I am asked to pray at a public event, I take some time to write out the prayer. I want to make sure it’s stated clearly, and if I am honest, I want people to say, “Now that was a good prayer!” (It’s painful to admit). But a cry of desperation is not scripted.  It is raw, emotional, and personal. Hannah prayed through “deep anguish,” “weeping bitterly” (1 Sam. 1:10-11 NIV).  

Let me ask again: Have you ever prayed a prayer of desperation?  Isaiah 64 records Israel’s anguished cry. Let’s work our way through it.

A Plea for God to Intervene (Isa. 64:1-5)

Israel had seen God work in the past. Isaiah proclaims, “No eye has seen a God besides you” (Isa. 64:4). God had done “awesome things that [they] did not look for” (Isa. 64:3a), “mountains quaked at [his] presence” (Isa. 64:3b).

But that was then, this is now.

Isaiah 64:5
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? 

Israel prays that God will tear open the heavens, pleading, “rend the heavens and come down” (Isa. 64:1). Have you been there? King David was. He implored, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Ps. 13:1). Prayers of desperation come from all of us, even David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).

From desperation, Israel moved to confession.

Confession (Isa. 64:6-7)

Israel honestly admits their sins. They were unclean and paying the consequences for their disobedience.

Isaiah 64:6-7 [Anchor Point]
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. 

“All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” This is a stark reminder that we can never be good enough for God. Our best effort on our best day falls short of God’s righteous standard. What we consider “righteous deeds” are so far below God’s holy standard that they are like a filthy cloth to him.

We have only one thing left to do—appeal to God’s mercy.

The Appeal (Isa. 64:8-12)

Israel started this prayer with a plea for God to tear the heavens and come down. They end with the same request, but now they are clothed in humility. They seek God’s mercy. Listen again to the distress in their appeal.

Isaiah 64:8-11
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. Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins. Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Israel humbly admits that God is God, and they are not. He is the potter, they are the clay, the work of his hands. Then they plead for his mercy by saying, “Behold, please look, we are all your people.”

They reminded God of what he already knew. Israel had been destroyed by the Babylonians. The temple, God’s “holy and beautiful house,” was burned down.

The prayer concludes with two urgent questions:

Isaiah 64:12
Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

God will answer Israel in the upcoming chapters. But for now, let’s leave these questions hanging in the air. 

And let me ask you just one more time, “Have you ever prayed a desperate prayer?” Maybe you have prayed that prayer recently. I want to remind you that God has not forsaken you. He is on the way. He will arrive in his perfect time.

I will wrap up with something Corrie ten Boom said. This devout believer experienced extremely challenging circumstances in her life, calling out to God in her despair. Arrested for hiding Jews during the Holocaust, she was sent to a concentration camp. And here’s what she said:

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”[1]

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on Isaiah 64. Focus on our Anchor Point—Isaiah 64:6-7. 
Reflect on this truth: Our best effort on our best day falls short of God’s holy standard.

Talking to God:  Thank God for his mercy!

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