“Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” Many of us have heard people ask this question, and some of us may have even asked this. Though there are several reasons that Scripture gives as to why someone’s prayers may go unanswered, our passage today from the prophet Isaiah gives one significant reason. Let’s look at what the Lord has to say to us today in this passage of Scripture.
The people in Isaiah’s day were praying, among other things, for deliverance from enemies. When they saw that God didn’t jump to their request, they started to say things such as that God is not strong enough, or maybe He has gone deaf, that’s why He hasn’t answered their prayers (vs 1). Isaiah quickly responds to these charges against God by saying that isn’t so. It’s not that God isn’t strong enough, or is hard of hearing, it’s that the people’s sins have brought a separation between them and God, and caused Him to turn His face away (vs 2). God has let His people know a number of times that wilful and deliberate sin brings a barrier between them and Himself (Psalm 66:18).
What is it that the people have done to cause God to turn a deaf ear to their prayers? All of us, every day, do things that are wrong. We commit sins, sometimes significant, often small, but hopefully we turn to God in repentance and confess them. God promises to forgive and wash them away if we confess (I John 1:9). It’s deliberate, wilful, unconfessed sin that God is referring to here. Among the sins Isaiah lists are murder, lying, and injustice (vs 3-4). When murderers are unpunished and winked at, lying and injustice is commonplace, God will not ignore this.
Living in a society where there is no justice or righteousness is like living and walking in darkness (vs 9-10). They are stumbling and groping around in the darkness of sin like blind men. They want some answer to their problems, some way out of their predicament, but can’t find any. Mankind is seeking unsuccessfully to escape their sinful, depraved condition through their own efforts (vs 11).
The next several verses go on to highlight the sinful condition of the people, and how far they have strayed from God (vs. 12-15). Sin offends our all-holy God. It separates us from Him. Because God is holy, He cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it doesn’t matter. He is forced to turn His head and look the other way when we pray with unconfessed sin. Those sins we cling to put up a barrier between us and the Lord.
What can we do? Our sins are overwhelming, and are a barrier to our relationship with God. He saw this, too, and it grieved Him (vs. 15). He saw that there was nothing they could do, and no one who could stand in the breach for their sins. Mankind on their own cannot deliver themselves from their sinful condition. God, Himself, stepped in to save mankind (vs 16-17). Jesus came, as the sinless Son of God, to pay the price for our sins. He is our Intercessor before God (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34). He put on the armor of righteousness and salvation for us. This is the same spiritual armor we are told to put on in our daily battle with the forces of evil (Ephesians 6:10-18).
The Lord has more than enough strength to redeem us, and His ear is always open to us when our sins are covered in the Blood of Jesus, the Savior. He, also, will bring judgment on all who persist in evil (vs 17-19). As the prophet Isaiah said a couple of chapters earlier - Seek the Lord while He may be found, forsake your wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts, for God will have mercy (Isaiah 55:6-7).
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