Scripture Daily

Context No. 2150 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 65:1-7: in context

1“I am inquired of by those who didn’t ask. I am found by those who didn’t seek me. I said, ‘See me, see me,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. 2I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts; 3a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks; 4who sit among the graves, and spend nights in secret places; who eat pig’s meat, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5who say, ‘Stay by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all day. 6“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosom 7your own iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together”, says the LORD, “who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills. Therefore I will first measure their work into their bosom.”

God speaks of his own persistent, seeking love toward a people who neither sought nor wanted him. I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me, he says; I said, here I am, here I am, to a nation that did not call on my name. All day long I have held out my hands to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices, who provoke me to my face continually. The picture is of God with hands outstretched all day toward those who turn from him, seeking those who do not seek him.

The astonishing thing in these words is the direction of the seeking. We might expect that God is found by those who diligently seek him, and reaches out to those who reach for him. But here God says the opposite: I was found by those who did not seek me; I held out my hands all day to a rebellious people. He seeks those who do not seek him; he reaches out to those who turn from him; he holds out his hands, all day long, to people who provoke him to his face. The initiative is entirely his, and it is directed toward the undeserving and the unseeking, those who have given him no reason to pursue them except his own love. This overturns our sense that we must first seek God before he will have anything to do with us. God's love comes first, to those who are not looking for it. Before we sought him, he was seeking us; while we were turned away, his hands were outstretched toward us; when we did not call on his name, he was saying, here I am. This is the very heart of grace: that God loves and seeks the undeserving first, not waiting for us to deserve or desire him, but reaching out to us in our rebellion. God commends his own love toward us, Paul says, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The love came while we were sinners, unseeking, rebellious; that is grace. And Paul quotes this very passage: all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient people. The outstretched hands of God, held out all day to those who turn away, are a picture of a love that pursues the undeserving. This gives us confidence in coming to God, and hope for those far from him. It means that we do not have to make ourselves worthy or seek hard enough before God will receive us; he has already been seeking us, his hands already outstretched toward us, saying, here I am. And it means that those who seem far from God, unseeking, even rebellious, are not beyond his reach, for he seeks exactly such, holding out his hands to them all day long. The father in Jesus' parable ran to the returning prodigal while he was still far off; and God reaches out to the unseeking and the rebellious with a love that comes first. When we come to God, we come to one who has long been seeking us, whose hands are already outstretched; and no one is too rebellious or too far to be sought by the God who is found by those who did not seek him.

Do I imagine I must first seek God hard enough, or make myself worthy, before he will receive me, and do I think those far from God are beyond his reach, or can God's own words, I was found by those who did not seek me; all day long I have held out my hands to a rebellious people, assure me that his love comes first, seeking the undeserving and the unseeking, so that I come to a God already seeking me and hope for those who seem far from him?

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