Isaiah 57:1-16: a reflection

1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil. 2He enters into peace. They rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness. 3“But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes. 4Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience and offspring of falsehood, 5you who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree; who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? 6Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion. They, they are your lot. You have even poured a drink offering to them. You have offered an offering. Shall I be appeased for these things? 7On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice. 8You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts, for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me, and have gone up. You have enlarged your bed and made a covenant for yourself with them. You loved what you saw on their bed. 9You went to the king with oil, increased your perfumes, sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol. 10You were wearied with the length of your ways; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint. 11“Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? Haven’t I held my peace for a long time, and you don’t fear me? 12I will declare your righteousness; and as for your works, they will not benefit you. 13When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you, but the wind will take them. A breath will carry them all away, but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.” 14He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.” 15For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

After a stretch of stern words against idolatry, Isaiah gives one of the most beautiful descriptions of God in all of Scripture. Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. The God who is highest, who inhabits eternity, whose very name is Holy, chooses to dwell not only in the heights but with the humble and broken.

Notice the astonishing pairing. On one hand, God is the high and lofty One, dwelling in the high and holy place, inhabiting eternity, utterly exalted above all. And on the other hand, this same exalted God dwells with the contrite and lowly, the humble, the broken-hearted. The one whose dwelling is the heights makes his home also with the crushed and contrite spirit, and his purpose in dwelling with them is tender: to revive them, to breathe life back into the lowly and the broken.

That is deep comfort for the broken-hearted and humbled. We might imagine that the high and holy God is far from us in our lowliness, that our brokenness puts us at a distance from his exalted holiness. Isaiah says the opposite: the high and holy One dwells precisely with the contrite and lowly, and comes near them not to condemn but to revive. If you are humbled, crushed, contrite, broken-hearted, you are not far from God; you are exactly where the high and holy God chooses to dwell. He draws near to the broken to revive them. Bring your contrite and lowly heart to him, and be revived.

Lord, you are the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, and yet you dwell with the contrite and lowly, to revive them. When I am broken, humbled, or crushed, and imagine you are far from me in my lowliness, remind me that you dwell precisely with the contrite, drawing near not to condemn but to revive. Thank you that my brokenness does not put me at a distance from you, but is exactly where you choose to dwell. I bring you my contrite and lowly heart; revive me.