The God Who Revives: Meeting Us Where We Are
I wrote from Isaiah 65 yesterday thinking that I was finished with Isaiah this year and would visit these chapters next year whenever my 2026 Bible reading plan revealed this wonderful and powerful book of scripture. But then I heard a podcast today where Ray Ortlund quoted Isaiah 57:15, and it stopped me in my tracks. How did I not write on this verse? Did I miss its powerful message?
As I went back to this verse, I starred at it and read it over a few times. I then recalled a verse from John 13 that I have been thinking about. Jesus in the upper room was washing his disciples’ feet. They were shocked, embarrassed, and confused by this act of love and care. Peter protested and resisted Jesus as Jesus knelt before him. And Jesus said:
“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
We know how this all ends. After protesting, Peter accepted this act of service. With humble hearts, though still somewhat confused, they listened to what Jesus was saying. It would be days, and weeks, and years for that experience to completely sink in. But we know from the writings and behavior of the apostles that is described in Acts and the epistles that they had embraced how they were called to wash other feet and to love as Jesus had loved.
I suspect that as the apostles faced hostility, hatred, and great suffering while they shared the message of Christ in the months and years after Pentecost, this same verse may have come to mind. It often comes to our minds as well during times of hardship and when facing difficulties that we don’t know when or how we will get through or they will resolve.
“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
How many times has that verse been true in your life? Maybe today you prayed to the Lord and said, “I don’t understand what you are doing.” And then we hear or read or consider how this verse ends: “but afterward you will understand.” Probably not today. Maybe not this year or next. Maybe not until later when we cross the thin vail that separates heaven and earth. But one day we will understand.
I stared at Isaiah 57:15 again. This time I saw it. While we believe that God is always with us and that he is everywhere at all times and certainly promised to be with us, the word of the Lord through Isaiah says that there are two places where God dwells: “in the high and holy place” and “also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit.” God meets us when we worship him, and he meets us in our lowest places where we experience our doubts, our fears, and where we do not understand what he is doing.
But the word of God through Isaiah doesn’t stop with just where God meets us in the depths. He tells us what God does when he meets us there: he revives the spirit of the lowly and the heart of the contrite.
Peter would discover that truth through his solitude after he had denied Christ, but especially as he sat around the fire and had the difficult conversation where Jesus repeatedly asked him, “Do you love me?”
Jesus will meet us in those moments as well. We do not understand what he is doing or not doing. We don’t know if our difficulties are the result of our mistakes or simply because we live in broken spaces on this side of eternity. But when we come to Jesus with humility, filled with questions and sorrow and allow him to wash our minds and hearts and receive the many ways he washes our feet through the kindness of fellow believers, we are revived once again.
Almighty God, we praise you and declare that you are creator and the one who sustains all things. We marvel at your love for us as we consider our sins and our failures. We receive the work of your Son on the cross that covers our sins and makes us able to come before you in boldness and without fear. We confess that in our pain we do not understand what you are doing but we trust you. Thank you for meeting us in our lowest places. Revive us by your Holy Spirit and fill us with hope and courage until that day when we do see you face to face and finally understand. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Isaiah 57:15; John 13:7 ESV
Photo by Pexels
To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.
