Some hold that we are in a new section of Isaiah from chapter 56. With a book that mixes so many periods and images, it is hard to tell. if they are correct, we are dealing with the disappointment of the returned exiles that everything is not perfect.

1) The writer yearns for the active presence of God, as we all do, at least at times. We do not enter into the presence of God as much as God moves toward us.

2) If I understand v. 5 (NRSV) correctly, they see God hiding and this pushed them into a complacency that allowed sin.  While ch. 40 has voices of heaven, no one calls here in the awful silence. Seitz (NIB:529) sees this as the cry of the servants who suffer.

3) It seems to me that yet means that in spite of God's hidden quality, God is still a father. We have a good example of father language here at v. , as our, not my, a sense of God the creator of all. All Israel begs for help. Here is an interesting way to take the chosen and still make a universal claim.

4) Do I detect, in v. 7, at least a hint that people do not call on God becuase not only is God not seen, but God doesn't listen anyway?

 

5) As we know from Jeremiah, the potter clay image is a powerful one. Here it has a sense of God molding us through adversity as well as success. It has a sense that our spiritual life is molded even when we may be unaware of the preocesses shaping us. I would hasten to add that the metaphor breaks down a bit when we consider that we, the clay, ahve some hand in shaping ourselves as well.

 

6) This silent God, this invisible, this hiiden God is a deep weel. It is a healthy reminder that spiritual life is not dealing with an easy God. One could go in a mystical direction in pursuit of the silence.