Isaiah 64-66

August 10

Isaiah 64-66

"All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—" (Isaiah 65:2, NIV)

God loves us so much, He pursues us. He seeks us because He wants a relationship with us. The Holy Spirit extends what is called prevenient grace to us; grace that goes before we even acknowledge God; grace that calls us into a relationship with God through Jesus. God reaches out to us with love, but many people ignore His outstretched hands and continue to do what they want to do instead of what God created them to do.

"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." (John 1:10-11, NIV) God wanted to restore a relationship with humanity so bad that He became a man; the creator became His creation. He held out His hands in love, but the world did not recognize Him. Instead of receiving Him, the world rejected and killed Him. But God continued to pursue any who would receive Him.

"Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!" (Isaiah 64:1, NIV)  Isaiah cried out for God to show up and reveal himself to His people. When Jesus was baptized the heavens were torn, and the Holy Spirit filled him. "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove." (Mark 1:10, NIV) After His death, the curtain to the temple was torn and the Holy Spirit came and filled all who would walk in His ways.

God pursues each of us desiring a relationship with us. He wants us to walk in His ways, not because He has control issues, but because He wants what is best for us. He created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. God pursues us, but He gives us a choice to make. What’s yours?