Isaiah 63:7-19
7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD
And the praises of the LORD,
According to all that the LORD has bestowed on us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,
According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.
8 For He said, "Surely they are My people,
Children who will not lie."
So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
And He bore them and carried them
All the days of old.
10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit;
So He turned Himself against them as an enemy,
And He fought against them.
11 Then he remembered the days of old,
Moses and his people, saying:
"Where is He who brought them up out of the sea
With the shepherd of His flock?
Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them,
12 Who led them by the right hand of Moses,
With His glorious arm,
Dividing the water before them
To make for Himself an everlasting name,
13 Who led them through the deep,
As a horse in the wilderness,
That they might not stumble?"
14 As a beast goes down into the valley,
And the Spirit of the LORD causes him to rest,
So You lead Your people,
To make Yourself a glorious name.
15 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?
16 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.
17 O LORD, why have You made us stray from Your ways,
And hardened our heart from Your fear?
Return for Your servants' sake,
The tribes of Your inheritance.
18 Your holy people have possessed it but a little while;
Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary.
19 We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled,
Those who were never called by Your name.
Like Israel, we as God’s people must reflect on all He has done for our sakes and meditate on His mercy in prayer. We should also be telling each other and those around us of His great lovingkindness worthy of praise and all His goodness He has given to His own because He is our Father in heaven. He became the deliverer of Israel and ultimately the savior of all Je calls from all nations as promised by faith through Abraham, so we can understand this passage is for us as well in a larger continuing sense. May we learn from how Israel had rebelled, walked away, and suffered as they made God their enemy until they saw how the nations looked at their previous deli through the sea and shepherded them through the wilderness into the promised land. He also has delivered us from bondage to sin and led us through baptism into His Spirit towards that promised kingdom to come, and He has promised to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) as hinted in His merciful dealings with Israel, among whom a remnant (Romans 9:27) is yet preserved. As He delivered His people out of bondage (Acts 7:6, Galatians 4:3-5), so we are delivered from the bondage to sin and death by Christ by His mighty hand of grace to bring glory to His name. As the example of Israel praying here, we also should ask for continuing mercies as we confess our sins (1 John 1:9) when we fall short because He is our everlasting Father and Redeemer! As we turn back to Him in repentance, He reminds us that He turns His grace to us because we are the inheritance of the Lord (Ephesians 1:18, 1 Peter 2:4, 9-10) because He is ours. We pray then for His mercy and forgiveness to return His peace and comfort to us when we remember and pray because we have been called by His name and will possess the eternal sanctuary under His sovereign rule forever. He is our eternal Father in heaven and we are forever His children.
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