Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.Isaiah 59:1-2 NIV
Does God ever seem far away? That your prayers just bounce off the ceiling? And that you come home from worship services with an empty feeling? Have you lost the joy of your salvation? If so, what Isaiah says here may be the reason.
He starts by proclaiming that God is always near. He is not asleep or inattentive. The problem lies, not in Him, but in me. It is my sin that separates me from God. It is my sin that hides His face from me. My sin comes between us, so I can no longer recognize God’s presence.
You might argue that you live a good life. You are not sexually immoral, and don’t take what is not yours. And you generally obey the law. I know I can certainly claim that. But sin is more than those gross violations of a moral code. Sin is missing the mark. It is failing to live the life God has called me to. When I live to please myself, even if what I am doing is not bad in itself, I am living in sin. And when that happens, as it does all too often, I cannot expect to feel close to God. He will seem distant because I have turned away from Him. He has not left me, but my sin has come between us and separated me from God.
The solution to this is found at the end of this chapter. The Redeemer will come to those who repent of their sins. If I turn from seeking to satisfy myself and instead seek to live for the Lord, I will find that He has been there all along, just waiting for me to turn to Him.
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The post My Sin Has Separated Me from God – Isaiah 59:1-2 appeared first on A Clay Jar.
