Lord, look down from heaven;
    look from your holy, glorious home, and see us.
Where is the passion and the might
    you used to show on our behalf?
    Where are your mercy and compassion now?
16 Surely you are still our Father!
    Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us,
Lord, you would still be our Father.
    You are our Redeemer from ages past.
17 Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path?
    Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you?
Return and help us, for we are your servants,
    the tribes that are your special possession.
18 How briefly your holy people possessed your holy place,
    and now our enemies have destroyed it.
19 Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you,
    as though we had never been known as your people. (NLT).

Before moving on from this passage, I feel it necessary to comment on a potentially problematic couple of lines (highlighted in the first part of verse 17). Maybe it’s raised questions in your mind too. Because, taken at face value, it appears that Isaiah is sort of blaming God for Israel’s sin. But if we take the message of Isaiah as a whole, it is abundantly clear that God’s people are fully responsible and accountable for their sins. It is obvious that they need to repent, and return to the Lord. So, I take this more as Isaiah’s recognition of God’s absolute sovereignty over everything. It’s not about blaming God, but recognising that things could have been otherwise. So why weren’t they? This seems to be the perplexing question.

Tom Hale’s comments on this are worthy of reflection:

”Isaiah is almost ”blaming” God for the people’s sins. But God only hardens those who have first hardened themselves; God confirms people in their hardness. He ”gives them over” to their sins (Romans 1:24,26,28).” ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1069.