Days 180 & 181: Isaiah 59-66

This is what the LORD says:
   “Heaven is my throne,
   and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
   Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things,
   and so they came into being?”
            declares the LORD. (66:1-2)

Ok...it is really hard, maybe even impossible, to get your mind around the idea of a God like that. I mean He is the all-powerful creator of everything that is. As if that's not hard enough...add this...

In all their distress he too was distressed,
   and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
   he lifted them up and carried them
   all the days of old. (63:9)

This all-powerful Creator of everything that is becomes distressed when we become distressed. He feels our pain. Knows and understands everything we face...and cares. I just read something today that reminded me that I'm not the center of the universe...however, it seems like maybe to God I am. Is it possible that I (all of us) am the center of God's universe? Especially when you consider this...

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. (64:6)

And yet, in spite of this, God still loves us, and still wants us to come back to Him.

All day long I have held out my hands
   to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
   pursuing their own imaginations. (65:2)

It really is a mystery. It's not religion...it's a relationship...it's love. And love is a mystery.