Isaiah 64:1-2
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence—as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil—to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
This prayer makes me curious.
To be fair, I’ve never boiled water over a fire. I have visions of becoming a person who enjoys backcountry camping, but I’m not that person yet. I’m scared of bears. And I really like sleeping in a bed. Therefore, my cooking-over-a-fire repertoire is currently limited to s’mores in my backyard.
I’m curious, because I would have expected the people praying this prayer to use a far more provocative image than fire kindling brushwood and that fire causing water to boil. I can appreciate that boiling water may call to mind quaking—the water in the pot, starting to boil, does begin to tremble. Still, this image feels a little mundane, doesn’t it, in the context of the rest of this prayer?
God’s people are languishing in exile, acutely aware of their need for God. Just before this passage they’ve asked God some pointed questions born of their grief and frustration: Where are your zeal and your might? The yearning of your heart and your compassion?
Where is God’s faithfulness? Are they no longer God’s beloved ones? Why has God let them be so crushed, so diminished and defeated?
At first, they beg God to just look down from heaven and see. But then, with increasing persistence, they cry out to God to tear open the heavens and come down.
If God comes down, they believe, the mountains will quake and the nations will tremble at God’s presence. The world will know—and they will know—that God is still for them, with them, committed to loving them and leading them into a future filled with hope.
If God comes down, God’s presence and place in the world will be undeniable—immovable mountains will move, obstinate nations will change.
It will be like lightning touching the earth and sparking a fire that roars through the forest, the people could have prayed. It will be like a controlled burn taken up by the wind and suddenly raging out of control, consuming everything in its path.
But instead they pray that God’s coming will be as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil.
It’s not a dramatic image, but it is a nourishing one. Boiling water provides safe water to drink. Boiling water provides a hot meal on a cold night. Boiling water takes time—even when the fire is going strong.
We may need God to come down in a way that makes the ground move under our feet. But we might also need God to show up in ways that unfold slowly—over time—warming our hearts and feeding our bodies. It might just be that this is the way immovable mountains move.
Come, Jesus, come. Come in might and come in mercy. Kindle a fire within us, so that we might share in your mission to save and to bless the whole world. Amen.
*Today’s accompanying song is Heaven Come Down by Becca Bradley.
I really appreciated this devotion Stacey! As I read it I also thought about how a watched pot doesn’t boil. This is often the way God works too, when we are not looking for it!
Oh, yes! I love that insight, Bethany! Thanks for sharing!
These devotions are though-provoking, compassionate, created and extended invitations. Valuing these each morning in devotional time.
Thank you so much, Kris.