Isaiah 59:1

Isaiah 59:1 says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:  Basically, Isaiah was saying that God would always be able to deliver His people and He would always hear them when they called to Him.  The people of Israel were questioning God’s power because they had been carried away captive and were still enslaved, but Isaiah assured them that God was still all powerful and would always hear them when they called out in faith.  If things are going badly for us as followers of Christ, we should never question the power of God.  He has redeemed us forever if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, so our earthly situation should never cause us to doubt His power or whether He hears us or not. 

Verse two adds, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.  Isaiah said that even though God was still the all-powerful God, that the iniquities, or sins, of the people were separating them from Him.  God had not failed to keep His part of the covenant relationship that He had entered into with Israel, but their failure had caused Him to not hear or answer their prayers.  If we as Christians begin to think that God has abandoned us, we don’t need to believe that He is the problem.  If we believe that God isn’t listening to us, we need to look to our own life to find the reason why.  God will never abandon those who are His people, which are those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. 

Verse three continues, For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.  Isaiah said that the reason they didn’t see God working in their lives was because of their sinful actions and words.  I think we can even add sinful thoughts to the list.  Sin will always separate us from God, even if we are a born-again believer.  This doesn’t mean we will be permanently separated from Him, since He seals us as His when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, but we may be separated from God’s working in our life. 

Verse four states, None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.  Then Isaiah listed some of the things that were happening with God’s chosen people.  They weren’t calling for justice, they spoke with vanity and lies, conceived mischief and brought forth iniquity.  This could be a statement about America today, even though we call ourselves a Christian nation.  We turn away the widows and orphans and put our faith in the rich and powerful too often. 

Verse five adds, They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.  I believe that Isaiah was saying that since they fed on lies, it was deadly to their faith. The cockatrice’s, or adder’s, eggs were poisonous and the spider web trapped things for the spider to feast on.  The people were caught by their own lies which poisoned their faith.  As Christians, we should never allow this to happen in our lives.  We need to reject the lies of the world and not feed on its poisonous fruit. 

Verse six continues, Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.  Isaiah said these webs would never be fit garments for His people and they couldn’t cover themselves with their works, because their works were evil.  We will never be able to be righteous in God’s eyes by our own abilities but can only be restored to Him by a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Verse seven says, Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.  Isaiah said God was not protecting them because they were quick to do evil and shed innocent blood and even their thoughts were of iniquity.  Sin always begins with our thoughts not being on God and His mercy but on the world and its evil.  As Christians, we should never have our minds filled with evil thoughts and we should never be quick in doing evil, especially the shedding of innocent blood.  

Verse eight adds, The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.  Isaiah said they couldn’t find peace because there was no judgment of the sin they were committing and that they were following a crooked path.  We have to judge sin to be sin and cannot engage in it and still expect God to bless us.