Rip The Heavens

Rip The Heavens

Bible: : Isaiah 64:1-8

Reading

Oh, that you would [rip] the heavens and come down (V.1).

One of my church friends recently told me she’d given up on God. She’s stopped going to church and isn’t reading her Bible any more. She doesn’t see the point. I wish I could say she’s the only one—but I’ve known quite a few people make this decision. And their complaint is always the same: How can I believe in a God who doesn’t ever seem to do anything?

We all ask this gut-wrenching question at some time or another. We all go through painful things that make us cry out to God, “Why?!”

Israel knew this kind of pain well. The Babylonian Empire invaded Israel, crushing them and turning Jerusalem into burning rubble. Isaiah put words to the people’s cries: Where is the God who’s supposed to rescue us? (ISAIAH 63:11-15). And yet from this place, Isaiah offered a bold prayer: God, “[rip] the heavens and come down” (64:1). Isaiah’s pain and deep sadness drove him not to pull away from God, but to come closer to Him.

Our doubts and pain do something strange: they show us how lost we are and how much we need God. Isaiah asked God to rip the heavens and act (again), because he believed God was their only hope. Even when things are hard, we can know that in Jesus, God has ripped the heavens. He has come down to us.

DON’T LET YOUR PAIN DRIVE YOU FROM GOD, BUT TO GOD.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries