O That You Would Tear Open the Heavens…

This passage from Isaiah is often read near the beginning of Advent. It brings us back to the time before Christ when the community of faith first began to look for signs of a coming messiah… In chapter 64, verse 1, the prophet begins with this cry: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down…”

There is a sense of desperation… a sense of longing…

Maybe you know what that’s like as you look at the world around you… the heartache and pain of all that’s happening in Israel and Gaza… the deep concerns within our own country – perhaps even concerns within your own family…

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down… Set things right… bring healing… bring justice… bring peace…

Isaiah was indeed looking at the world around him…and he acknowledges that God’s timing is not our timing. He goes on to write:

From ages past no one has heard,

    no ear has perceived,

 no eye has seen any God besides you,

    who works for those who wait for him.

Here there is a prayer for redemption – and at the same time a reminder that even in the waiting God is at work… in the world… and in us… In us, because he adds this remarkable statement…You are the Potter. We are the clay.

I take this to be a statement of hope… perhaps even the focus of a prayer.

As we continue to prepare for Christmas, as we pray for, long for, and wait for the coming of Christ, may we also trust. May we trust that even now God is at work.

Let us pray: God of Hope, we thank you for this holy season, and for your love for each of us… Shape us and mold us more and more into the image of your Son Jesus. Grant us patience, kindness, and generosity. Grant us eyes to see your kingdom already in-breaking. And grant us hearts to get in on it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.