4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
    no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
    who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
    who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
    you were angry.
    How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
    and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
    or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
    and have given us over to our sins.

The doctrine of ‘total depravity’ does not mean that every person is as bad as they possibly can be, but rather that sin has affected (infected) every part of the human personality. Warren Wiersbe comments that if ”our righteous acts are like filthy rags” in God’s sight, how must our unrighteous deeds look to Him? The truth is that even the best things we do are tainted by sin.

Isaiah, as we have seen, wonderfully describes the God ”who acts on behalf of those who wait for him” (4). He also shows that such a stance – this prayer posture – involves a lifestyle of holiness (5). It is not that we can earn answers to prayer by perfect living. If that were the case we’d all be snookered! But our overall commitment should be to living God’s way, with a desire for holiness, no matter how many times we may fail or fall. Wilful sin, which we refuse to evict because we enjoy its company far too much, can cause a blockage to our prayers (see Ps.66:18-20).

This was the sad case for Israel. Instead of pursuing the way of holiness, they were habitual sinners (5b). So much so that no-one stirred themselves to pray (7) to the prayer answering God (4,5a).

‘The people of God, in affliction, confess and bewail their sins, owning themselves unworthy of his mercy. Sin is that abominable thing which the Lord hates. Our deeds, whatever they may seem to be, if we think to merit by them at God’s hand, are as rags, and will not cover us; filthy rags, and will but defile us. Even our few good works in which there is real excellence, as fruits of the Spirit, are so defective and defiled as done by us, that they need to be washed in the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. It bodes ill when prayer is kept back. To pray, is by faith to take hold of the promises the Lord has made of his good-will to us, and to plead them; to take hold of him, earnestly begging him not to leave us; or soliciting his return…How few call upon the Lord with their whole hearts, or stir themselves to lay hold upon him! God may delay for a time to answer our prayers, but he will, in the end, answer those who call on his name and hope in his mercy.’ Matthew Henry.

Thought: Are there any sins of which I am aware that are holding me back from praying as I ought? What are they, and what will I do about them?