Daily Devotions
Isaiah
"Doubtless You are our Father"
Text: Isaiah 63:16
EXERCISING FAITH
Isaiah exercised all the faith he could muster and pleaded with the LORD as Father! This prayer was an impassioned intercessory prayer!
“Look down from heaven,
And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious.
Where are Your zeal and Your strength,
The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me?
Are they restrained?
Doubtless You are our Father,
Though Abraham was ignorant of us,
And Israel does not acknowledge us.
You, O LORD, are our Father;
Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.”
Isaiah 63:15-16
1. Praying to the LORD
a) The focus was God in heaven.
b) Rather than the temple on earth.
c) Heaven was:
i) God’s habitation.
ii) It was holy and glorious.
2. Pleading with the LORD.
a) To see His zeal and strength.
b) His heart’s yearning and mercies.
c) Isaiah pleaded to experience this for himself first.
d) These things were so restrained!
e) Isaiah felt the strain on Israel’s behalf.
3. Pleading the Fatherhood of God.
a) This was an impassioned plea.
b) This was deeply insightful and personal too.
4. Abraham and Israel.
a) They were acknowledged as “fathers” of Israel.
b) But their fatherhood was limited at best.
i) Abraham was not all knowing. Hence the word “ignorant of us” was used.
ii) Israel does not acknowledge every child.
iii) In Jacob’s prayer he decided to be as far removed from Levi and Simeon
because of their wickedness (Genesis 49:5-7).
5. The LORD as Father.
a) Isaiah pleaded the Fatherhood of the LORD.
i) He is not like Abraham.
ii) He is also not Israel.
iii) He is the LORD and He is Father.
b) The LORD was also:
i) The Redeemer.
ii) He has always been the Everlasting Redeemer.
iii) This is His great eternal name.