Today’s Reading, Isaiah 59-63
Focal Scripture: Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.”
Silence, we have all experienced it at some point in our lives. Maybe it has been late at night and you hear nothing but the sound of your heart beating. Or maybe it has been when you called someone’s name and never gotten a response. Perhaps it has been when you cried out to God and no response. I can tell you from personal experience the last scenario has always been the worst one to have.
In today’s reading we are told from Isaiah that the peoples iniquities were separating them from God. Then they are told that their sins have hidden God’s face so he doesn’t hear them when they pray. This declaration gives us another glimpse into God’s character and how it impacts us as believers. God hates sin and desires for us to know how it impacts our prayer life.
I need to make a clarification with this verse to make sure you understand what is happening here. First, God knows our prayers and what we ask even before we ask them. Secondly, nothing happens that surprises God, no word or conversation is without his foreknowledge. So what does this verse mean?
It means when we have sin in our lives and we speak to God we can have confidence he will hear us but he won’t answer us because of our hearts condition. Before we can go any further we must deal with the sin in our lives. It doesn’t matter if it is a big sin or a small sin it all impacts our relationship with God.
Once we pray and we feel like our prayers don’t even reach the ceiling we need to search our hearts and repent. God takes sin serious and it breaks our fellowship with him in a major way. To open up the highway of conversation we must give God all that we have and that includes our iniquities and our sin. Our goal should be to make sure he never hides his face from us when we pray to him.
If you are struggling with sin or your prayer life make sure you deal with it now. Go to God and confess what is breaking the relationship and then repent from what is causing it to happen. He is faithful and just and will forgive your sins. Then watch the highway of prayer open up to you like never before. Sin separates us from God but his forgiveness makes us whole.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Isaiah 64-66
