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Isaiah 59:1, 2 - Sin Separates Us from God and His Blessings.

Isaiah 59:1, 2 (NIV)  Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Isaiah 59:1, 2 (NLT) Listen! The LORD is not too weak to save you, and he is not becoming deaf. He can hear you when you call. 2 But there is a problem - your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

INTRODUCTION

God's holiness cannot tolerate sin. Sin offends our holy God and separates us from him. Because God is holy, he cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it didn't matter. Sin cuts people off from him, forming a wall to isolate God from the people he loves. No wonder this long list of wretched sins makes God angry and forces him to look the other way. People who die with their life of sin unforgiven separate themselves eternally from God. God wants them to live with him forever, but he cannot take them into his holy presence unless their sin is removed. Have you confessed your sin to God, allowing him to remove it? The Lord can save you if you turn to him. [Life Application SB]

It is not because He is unwilling to forgive that He turns from the transgressor; it is because the sinner refuses to make use of the abundant provisions of grace, that God is unable to deliver from sin. {PK 323}

COMMENTARY PEARL

Sin not only shuts away from God, but destroys in the human soul both the desire and the capacity for knowing Him. Through sin, the whole human organism is deranged, the mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted; the faculties of the soul are degraded... To the heart that has become purified, all is changed. Transformation of character is the testimony to the world of an indwelling Christ. The Spirit of God produces a new life in the soul, bringing the thoughts and desires into obedience to the will of Christ; and the inward man is renewed in the image of God. Weak and erring men and women show to the world that the redeeming power of grace can cause the faulty character to develop into symmetry and abundant fruitfulness.  The heart that receives the word of God is not as a pool that evaporates, not like a broken cistern that loses its treasure. It is like the mountain stream, fed by unfailing springs, whose cool, sparkling waters leap from rock to rock, refreshing the weary, the thirsty, the heavy-laden. It is like a river constantly flowing and, as it advances, becoming deeper and wider, until its life-giving waters are spread over all the earth. {PK 233}

COMMENTARY

God Hears You
   Owls can catch a mouse under a foot of snow in total darkness. Their hearing is the best of any animal ever tested sensitive enough to pick up low-volume sounds that are relatively far away. And because their ears are positioned asymmetrically on their heads, they have the uncanny ability to hone in on a rodent's exact location.
   God's ability to hear us is better than the hearing of an owl. Today's promise assures us that He is closer than we think and tuned into the longings of our heart. The problem, however, is that our iniquities separate us from God - not that they drive Him from us, but that they drive us from Him.
   We have all had times when we felt far from God and that our sins have shut us from His presence. In these moments of aloneness, we should not try to run farther from him (like Adam and Eve) but cry out to Him. Even the faintest whisper for help can be heard by the compassionate ears of our heavenly Father.
   The good news is that the Lord's ear is not "heavy, that it cannot hear." That is, regardless of what you have done, the death of Jesus on the cross has covered it. The penalty for your sin has already been paid. You just need to repent and to claim His promise of forgiveness, not because you are worthy but because Jesus is - and you are accepted by the Father because of Jesus.
   Sin will drive you from God's presence; the gospel enables you to return in confidence that God hears you.
   Lord Jesus, draw me into the Father's presence despite my shortcomings. [The Most Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing Facts]

When God Won't Listen
   If you're practicing sin as a Christian, it will bring your prayer life to a screeching halt. One of the reasons our prayers are not answered is because of unconfessed sin.
   The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear" (Psalm 66:18 NKJV). That word regard means "to cling to" or "hold on to."
   And in Isaiah 59, God said, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (verses 1-2 NKJV).
   We all sin, and we sin more than we think we do. As 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (NKJV).
   That is why Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us," as frequently as we pray, "Give us today the food we need" (Matthew 6:11-12 NLT).
   There's a difference, however, between Christians who sin and Christians who willfully and habitually sin without remorse, without any plans to stop.
   True Christians are miserable when they're living in sin, and they'll want to confess that sin. On the other hand, if someone can continue to sin and even plan to sin more without any remorse or pangs of conscience, it would indicate to me that he or she isn't a child of God (see 1 John 3:8).
   Unconfessed sin can hinder our prayers. That is why we want to confess it. And when we do, 1 John 1:9 tells us that God "is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (NKJV). [Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries; https://www.harvestdaily.com]

When God Turns Away
   After years of walking with the Lord, the apostle Paul said, "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me" (Philippians 3:12 NLT).
   The great apostle was saying, "I have so far to go. I have so much to learn. So much is still before me. I'm going to forget what is behind me, not only my past failures, but also my past victories. I want to keep growing. I want to press on."
   If we can look at our lives and say, "I don't really need to study the Bible that much anymore. I think I have it down. I don't know that I need to go to church that often. I think I've heard all there is to hear," then we are far from where we need to be.
   If we have a sense of self-satisfaction about our spiritual lives and a resulting complacency, that is an indication that we're in bad shape spiritually.
   Certainly we have things in our lives for which we need God's cleansing on a regular basis. There are sins of both commission and omission. A sin of commission is breaking a commandment, while a sin of omission is not doing what God tells us to do.
   If we don't confess our sins, then our prayer lives will come to a halt. And if we are holding on to some kind of sin, then we won't have our prayers answered in the affirmative. The psalmist wrote, "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18 NLT).
   The closer we are to God, the greater our sense of sin will be. [Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries; https://www.harvestdaily.com]

LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 59:1, 2 - Sin Harms Our Relationship With God.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20210625-0958.html

Isaiah 59:1,2 - How Does Sin Separate Us From God And His Blessings.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2005/20050502-1812.html

James 4:8, 9 - Drawing Near To God.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240203-0843.html

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT

https://abible.com/links/