Quick Note – Isaiah 59:1-2 – Blocked Prayers?

Isaiah 59:1-2 – Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

When the Israelites would suffer from trouble and hardship, when they would be captured and exiled to another country, they would complain about how God did not protect them, about how God did not hear their prayers.  They felt like He wasn’t listening, like He didn’t care, like He was a deceiver who promised them love, safety, and protection but gave them pain and destruction instead.  However, God was always ready to listen, always ready to rescue, always ready to save.  The broken relationship did not come from God’s desire to separate Himself from them, but the Israelites desire to sin.  Their sins were separating them from God; their sins were a barrier between them and God.  Because God is holy, He cannot dwell in the presence of sin.  Because God is just, He must punish it.  So when sin was present, He had to leave and separate Himself from them.  This is why Isaiah told the people, “…Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”  Sin was the divider that kept them away from God and His blessings. 

The same principle applies to us today.  When you feel like God is not listening to your prayers, when you feel like God is not present in your life, when you feel like God has abandoned you, ask yourself is there sin in my life?  Most likely, you will find that you have been holding onto some iniquity, some wrong, some sin that God has been trying to get you to let go of.  You will find out that what has been keeping your prayers hindered is your sin.  So rather than blaming God for the trouble, turn in repentance to Him, lay your sins at His feet, ask Him for forgiveness, and restore that relationship with Him.  When we feel like God is far away, it is not because He has drifted away, but because we have gone astray.  Like the prodigal son, we ran away from home and our loving Father.  Like the lost sheep, we wandered out of the watch of our Shepherd.  Let us repent of our sins and come back to Him, for our God is willing, capable, and ready to save.