This week as we look at lament, we find ourselves in the middle of Isaiah’s lament…
Isaiah 63:15 – Isaiah 64:12 Common English Bible
15 Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious perch.
Where are your energy and your might, your concern and your pity?
Don’t hold back!
16 You are surely our father, even though Abraham doesn’t know us,
and Israel doesn’t recognize us.
You, Lord, are our father; your reputation since long ago is that of our redeemer.
17 Why do you lead us astray, Lord, from your ways?
Why do you harden our heart so we don’t fear you?
Return for the sake of your servants the tribes that are your heritage!
18 Why did the wicked bring down your holy place?
Why did our enemies trample your sanctuary?
19 For too long we have been like those you don’t rule, like those not known by your name.
64:1 If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
Mountains would quake before you
2 like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil.
If you would make your name known to your enemies, the nations would tremble in your presence.
3 When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations; when you came down, mountains quaked before you.
4 From ancient times, no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any god but you who acts on behalf of those who wait for him!
5 You look after those who gladly do right; they will praise you for your ways.
But you were angry when we sinned; you hid yourself when we did wrong.
6 We have all become like the unclean; all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag.
All of us wither like a leaf; our sins, like the wind, carry us away.
7 No one calls on your name; no one bothers to hold on to you, for you have hidden yourself from us, and have handed us over to our sin.
8 But now, Lord, you are our father.
We are the clay, and you are our potter.
All of us are the work of your hand.
9 Don’t rage so fiercely, Lord; don’t hold our sins against us forever, but gaze now on your people, all of us:
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a wasteland.
11 Our holy, glorious house, where our ancestors praised you, has gone up in flames; all that we treasured has become a ruin.
12 After all this, will you hold back, Lord?
Will you keep silent and torment us so terribly?
Isaiah’s laments, yes plural, seem to be of a different type than some of the previous reasons of lament that we have studied.
Did you catch it?
Go ahead and read these verses again, it won’t take long.
I’ll wait…
Did you see it?
What is different about these laments than the previous laments we have studied?
This passage is often used during Advent.
Why do you think that is?
Is lament part of our Advent practice?
We are still 55 days from the beginning of Advent, but what do you long for?
Can we relate to Isaiah’s longings (Isaiah 63:15 & Isaiah 64:1-3)?
Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
~ Pastor Dustin
