The reality greater than my own
I shall not die, but I shall live,
And will recount the deeds of the Lord. Psalm 118:17
Read Isaiah 64:5—11
I guess as believer I have to become used to seeing and thinking in two ways at once. I need to recognise the reality in which I live, and to receive the promise in which God lives. And to see that it is the promise of God that overcomes my own grim reality. That now becomes unreality. And that means I live with a gorgeous and irrepressible hope. So in this prophet’s vision the grim unreality is my own uncleanness like a filthy cloth, my frailty like a leaf. It is my failure to hold onto God. But God’s part is the reverse. His part is re-creation. God is Father. God is potter, reworking me. God calls this dead lump of clay to life, and I am renewed. He calls us, this living people, his own dear people. Suddenly we can marvel at our vitality.
Father, I who am unclean look to you for my righteousness. I who am frail and dying look to you for my life and my vigour. I who have failed to hold faithfully to you, now look to you to hold faithfully to your purpose. You do hold me faithfully. You do that this night. You have committed yourself not to be without me. I know all this through Jesus Christ. I receive all this from Jesus Christ. I have all this in Jesus Christ. I am assured of this as his Spirit works within me. And I find my life impossibly, unbelievably pleasing now.