Isaiah 64:1-12: a reflection

1Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— 2as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the water to boil. Make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence! 3When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for, you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence. 4For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him. 5You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved? 6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities. 8But now, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand. 9Don’t be furious, LORD. Don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people. 10Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned with fire. All our pleasant places are laid waste. 12Will you hold yourself back for these things, LORD? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?

Isaiah pours out a prayer of longing and confession. He longs for God to act, to tear open the heavens and come down. He confesses honestly the people's sin, and says something humbling about even their goodness: all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away. But then he turns to a tender image of hope: But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD; behold, we are all your people.

Notice the two things Isaiah holds together: humility about our own righteousness, and trust in God as our Potter. First, the humbling confession that even our best deeds, our righteous acts, are like a polluted garment before God, that we cannot save ourselves by our own goodness. And then, from that low place, the appeal to God as Father and Potter: we are the clay, you the potter, the work of your hands. Having given up confidence in his own righteousness, Isaiah yields to God's shaping and appeals to God's fatherly mercy.

Both are worth taking to heart. It humbles us to admit that even our righteousness falls short, that we cannot present our own goodness to God as though it were spotless; our best is a polluted garment, and we need his mercy, not our merit. And it comforts us to remember that we are clay in the hands of a Father who is our Potter, shaping us, working on us, even through hard means. When you are tempted to trust your own righteousness, remember the polluted garment. And when God's shaping of you is hard, remember the Potter: yield to his hands, trusting that the Father who shapes you is making you into what he intends. We are the clay; he is the Potter; and he does not abandon the work of his hands.

Lord, Isaiah confessed that even our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, and then appealed to you as Father and Potter: we are the clay, you our potter, the work of your hand. Humble me with the truth that even my best deeds fall short, that I cannot present my own goodness to you as spotless, but need your mercy, not my merit. And comfort me with the image of the Potter: help me yield to your shaping hands, even when the shaping is hard, trusting that you are making me into what you intend. When I am tempted to trust my own righteousness, remind me of the polluted garment; and when your work on me is painful, remind me of the Potter. I am the clay; you are the Potter; do not abandon the work of your hands.