Scripture Daily

Context No. 2081 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 65:13-25: in context

13Therefore the Lord GOD says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed. 14Behold, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry for sorrow of heart, and will wail for anguish of spirit. 15You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord GOD will kill you. He will call his servants by another name, 16so that he who blesses himself on the earth will bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears on the earth will swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes. 17“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy. 19I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard in her no more. 20“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed. 21They will build houses and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22They will not build and another inhabit. They will not plant and another eat; for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23They will not labor in vain nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of the LORD’s blessed and their descendants with them. 24It will happen that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

In his vision of the new heavens and new earth, Isaiah describes a restored world where God's people rejoice, where weeping is heard no more, where they build and inhabit and are not deprived of the fruit of their labor. And amid these promises comes a word about God's nearness in prayer: it will happen that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. God pictures himself so near and attentive to his people that he answers before they have even finished asking, hearing while they are still speaking.

The promise, before they call, I will answer, reveals the intimacy and readiness of God to hear his people. He does not picture himself as distant, needing to be roused, reluctant to respond. He pictures himself as eager and attentive, so near to his people that he anticipates their need, answering before they call and hearing while they are still speaking. The prayer has barely begun, and God is already responding; the words are still on the lips, and God has already heard. This is a God near at hand, attentive, ready, eager to answer his people. There is deep comfort here about how God receives our prayers. We can imagine God as reluctant, distant, needing to be persuaded, slow to attend to us, so that our prayers must travel far and wait long to be heard. Isaiah's picture is the opposite: a God so attentive that he answers before we call, so near that he hears while we are still speaking, so ready that our need is met almost before it is expressed. Your Father knows what you need, Jesus says, before you ask him. God is not a distant deity to be roused with difficulty, but a Father near at hand, attentive to his children, eager to answer. This changes how we come to God in prayer. We come not to a reluctant God who must be persuaded, but to a Father who is already attentive, already inclined to hear, so near that he answers before we call. This does not mean every prayer is granted exactly as we ask; God's answers are wise and good, not always what we request. But it means we are heard, and heard eagerly, by a God who is near and attentive, not distant and reluctant. Before there is a word on my tongue, the psalmist says, you know it altogether. When we pray, we may come with the confidence that God is not far off and hard to reach, but near, attentive, and eager to hear, a Father who answers before we call and hears while we are still speaking. His readiness to hear is greater than our readiness to ask; and we pray to a God already inclined toward us, near at hand and attentive to our every word.

When I pray, do I imagine God as distant and reluctant, needing to be persuaded and slow to attend to me, so that my prayers must travel far and wait long to be heard, or can Isaiah's promise, before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear, assure me that I pray to a God near at hand, attentive and eager, a Father who hears while I am still speaking and answers before I call?

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