Who Catches God’s Eye? The Humble and Contrite in Spirit - Isaiah 62-66

Who Catches God’s Eye?  The Humble and Contrite in Spirit

Isaiah 66:1-2 (ESV)
1 Thus says the LORD:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
and what is the place of my rest?
2 All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

In the last chapters of Isaiah we have a mix of God’s wrath being described again and God’s mercy being poured out one last time.  Those who reject God will experience His wrath:

Isaiah 65:12 (ESV)
12 I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
because, when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes
and chose what I did not delight in.”

But, as we see in the above opening verses of the last chapter, those who have a contrite and humble spirit, God will notice and “look.”  It is amazing when we take these words and compare them to the first words of Jesus, in what might be His first recorded public statements:

Matthew 5:1-3 (ESV)
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Those who are poor in spirit have, as a blessing, the knowledge that theirs is the kingdom of God.   God looks upon the humble.   Notice how James says it in his letter to the early church:

James 4:6 (ESV)
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We can be assured that God will look upon us in favor when we are humbled by the awesome God that He is and what He does for us!