Isaiah 65:1-9 (NRSV)
Read Isaiah 65:1-9 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 65I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that did not call on my name. Verse 2I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; Verse 3a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and offering incense on bricks; Verse 4who sit inside tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine's flesh, with broth of abominable things in their vessels; Verse 5who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long. Verse 6See, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their laps Verse 7their iniquities and their ancestors' iniquities together, says the Lord; because they offered incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their actions.
Verse 8Thus says the Lord: As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, "Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it," so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all. Verse 9I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there.
Devotion
Do you remember playing hide-and-seek? Recollect the fun of waiting, very still, in your clever hiding spot. You hardly dared to breathe while friends passed merest inches away. Within minutes one of them found you, almost always.
But do you remember that time when no one found you, when no one kept looking? At first you grew impatient, then forlorn. Maybe you called out, but no one came. Maybe waved your hands, but no one was looking. They had all run off and never missed you.
Few experiences feel lonelier than wanting badly to be discovered by people who aren’t looking. Hear the lonely sorrow in God’s voice. “I was ready…to be found by those who did not seek me…I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ …I held out my hands...”
Ponder this: Long ago God found you; now it is God who wants to be found. Today, in the middle of your life, God calls out “Here I am!” Pause a moment. Listen. God is very near.
Prayer
Holy God, you rule the rolling worlds of space, yet are nearer than a breath. Hold out your hand to me, that in finding you, I may be found. Amen.