Inspired by Isaiah 64, two friends in a coffee shop sit with a prayer that opens by begging God to rip the sky open and come down. They talk through the sting of the filthy rags verse, that even our best works fall short, the comfort of being clay in the potter’s hands, and a chapter that just ends on a burned-down temple with no answer.
Tom: Did you read chapter 64 about the filthy rags?
Ray: Yeah. That verse always hits me a little in the stomach, always makes me check myself.
Tom: Same. But I think I’ve read it wrong for years.
Ray: How so?
Tom: I thought it meant our sins are filthy rags. Like the obvious bad stuff.
Ray: It’s not?
Tom: No. It’s the good stuff. Our righteous deeds. The stuff we’re proud of.
Ray: Huh. That’s worse. Pride is a waste of time, so we are learning.
Tom: Way worse. Your best day’s still a dirty rag to Him.
Ray: Man. I don’t love that.
Tom: Me either. But I think that’s the point.
Ray: What, that we can’t get there?
Tom: Yeah. Can’t clean ourselves up enough. The good works don’t do it.
Ray: So what’s the point of trying then?
Tom: I don’t know. I go around on that one. Maybe it’s that when we accept Christ, then our works are driven by God’s instructions from His word. For instance, He calls us to be generous with our resources with one another. He says we are stewards of His provisions. So, if we follow His instructions, then we are simply doing what we would be expected to do, and for that, we will get rewarded in Heaven.
Ray: Makes sense when you look at it that way.
Tom: It matters; I just, maybe it doesn’t earn anything per se. That’s different.
Ray: I guess. Still stings for those who are trying to earn their way to Heaven.
Tom: The start of the chapter, though. Rip the heavens open, come down.
Ray: Oh yeah. That’s a mood. That’s most of my prayers, honestly.
Tom: Ha. Just do something. Show up.
Ray: Yeah. Just come down here and fix it already.
Tom: But then the middle part. He says God shows up for the ones who wait.
Ray: Wait. Not the ones who yell, or rant and rave?
Tom: Ha. Yeah. Kind of the opposite of what I want.
Ray: Same, man.
Tom: The potter thing helped me a little.
Ray: Yeah. Like, we just need to allow Him to work in and through our lives, right?
Tom: Absolutely, we’re the clay; He’s the potter. Like, even in the mess, we’re still His. He is continually molding and shaping us into becoming for His glory.
Ray: Still the work of His hand. Yeah. That’s the line I circled.
Tom: Cause the filthy rags part could just crush you.
Ray: Right. But then clay. He made us. He’s not throwing us out.
Tom: I hope not.
Ray: Yeah. Me too.
Tom: Then it just ends on the burned temple. You gonna stay quiet, God?
Ray: And no answer. Just, done.
Tom: That bug you?
Ray: Kind of. But kind of not. It’s where I actually am some days.
Tom: Yeah.
Ray: Asking and not hearing back yet.
Tom: Yet.
Ray: Yeah. Holding onto the yet.
Tom: That’s about all I got some weeks.
Ray: It’s something, though.
Tom: It’s something. You want the last of these fries?
Ray: Yeah, hand ’em over.
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 64
[a]If only You would tear the heavens open
and come down,
so that mountains would quake at Your presence—
2 [b]as fire kindles the brushwood,
and fire causes water to boil—
to make Your name known to Your enemies,
so that nations will tremble at Your presence!
3 When You did awesome works
that we did not expect,
You came down,
and the mountains quaked at Your presence.
4 From ancient times no one has heard,
no one has listened,
no eye has seen any God except You,
who acts on behalf of the one who waits for Him.
5 You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;
they remember You in Your ways.
But we have sinned, and You were angry.
How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?[c]
6 All of us have become like something unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like a polluted[d] garment;
all of us wither like a leaf,
and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
7 No one calls on Your name,
striving to take hold of You.
For You have hidden Your face from us
and made us melt because of[e][f] our iniquity.
8 Yet Lord, You are our Father;
we are the clay, and You are our potter;
we all are the work of Your hands.
9 Lord, do not be terribly angry
or remember our iniquity forever.
Please look—all of us are Your people!
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful[g] temple,
where our fathers praised You,
has been burned with fire,
and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.
12 Lord, after all this, will You restrain Yourself?
Will You keep silent and afflict severely?
- Isaiah 64:1 Is 63:19b in Hb
- Isaiah 64:2 Is 64:1 in Hb
- Isaiah 64:5 Lit angry; in them continually and we will be saved; Hb obscure
- Isaiah 64:6 Lit menstrual
- Isaiah 64:7 LXX, Syr, Vg, Tg read and delivered us into the hand of
- Isaiah 64:7 Lit melt by the hand
- Isaiah 64:11 Or glorious; Is 60:7