Arms Never Too Short

Isaiah 59:1–8

“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. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.”

We are called to seek justice for God is just, the prophet Isaiah elsewhere writes, “earn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow (Isa 1:17).” He says this after he exhorts us to "wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil (Isa 1:16).” It begins with us and in us. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me; this is in line with what Solzhenitsyn wrote to let the lies come as they do, but not through us this makes a better world despite the human condition. And we do have a hope, Living Life says, “God is more than able to save His people. His ears are always open, ready to hear us repent, and His arms are always stretched out toward us, ready to receive us… It is only through the blood of Christ that our relationship with God can be restored… through Jesus we have been freed from the treacherous web of sin. In Him, we are set free from pursuing evil and violence and can walk the path of peace and justice.” Wash us clean God Holy Spirit, let Your power overcome our malady, and the Blood of the Lamb reveal once more Your beautiful radiant face. Give us clean hands and pure hearts, that we may ascend into the hill of the LORD and receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psa 24:3–5), in Christ, amen.