The Great Disconnect
Introduction: Whose Fault Is It Anyway?
We live in an age of cosmic complaint. When things go wrong, when prayers seem to bounce off a brass ceiling, when the fabric of our society unravels, the first instinct of modern man is to cast a suspicious eye heavenward. The problem, we are told, must be with God. Perhaps He is not as powerful as the preachers say. Perhaps He is not as good as the Bible claims. Perhaps He is simply distant, distracted, or deaf. We treat God like a negligent cosmic landlord, and we wonder why the building is falling apart.
This is the oldest blame-shift in the book, going all the way back to the Garden when Adam said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." Notice the subtle accusation: it was the woman You gave me. The problem, you see, started with God. Our generation has simply refined this art. We have convinced ourselves that the silence we experience is a sign of God's absence, not our rebellion. We think the chasm between heaven and earth is a feature of the universe, not a consequence of our sin.
Into this festival of self-pity and accusation, the prophet Isaiah speaks a word that is as bracing as a slap in the face. He comes to a people who feel abandoned by God, a people who are going through all the religious motions but finding no relief. And he tells them, with no varnish whatever, that the problem is not with the divine transmitter. The problem is with their receiver. The line is not dead; they have cut the cord themselves. This passage is a divine diagnosis of the human condition. It is God's answer to the question, "Why does it feel like you are so far away?" And His answer is this: I have not moved. You have.
The Text
Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so 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. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken a lie; Your tongue mutters unrighteousness. No one calls in righteousness, and no one seeks justice in truth. They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness; They conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness. They break open vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth. Their webs will not become a garment, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of wickedness, And a deed of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, And they are quick to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness; Devastation and destruction are in their highways. They do not know the way of peace, And there is no justice in their tracks; They have made their paths crooked, Whoever treads on them does not know peace.
(Isaiah 59:1-8 LSB)
God Is Not the Problem (v. 1)
The prophet begins by clearing the table of all our pathetic excuses.
"Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear." (Isaiah 59:1)
This is the great biblical presupposition. The problem is never, ever a lack of power or attentiveness on God's part. He is not the God of the deists, a watchmaker who wound up the universe and then went on vacation. He is not a finite god, struggling against chaos. His arm is not shrunken; it is the arm that stretched out the heavens. His ear is not heavy; it is the ear that hears the cry of every sparrow.
This verse demolishes two common and blasphemous notions about God. First, it demolishes the idea that God is impotent. His hand is not too short to reach into the mess of your life, the mess of our culture, and bring about His sovereign salvation. He can save. He is able. Second, it demolishes the idea that God is indifferent. His ear is not dull. He is not hard of hearing. He is not ignoring you out of apathy. Before you dare to diagnose the problem, you must begin here: God is both fully able and fully attentive.
So if you are in a situation where it feels like God cannot or will not act, you are forbidden by God Himself from concluding that the fault lies with Him. You must look elsewhere for the source of the disconnect. Isaiah immediately tells us where to look.
The Great Wall of Sin (v. 2)
Here is the central thesis of the entire chapter, the hinge on which it all turns.
"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." (Isaiah 59:2)
The problem is not distance; it is separation. And the building material of that separating wall is our iniquity. Sin is not just a list of broken rules. It is an active, hostile force that creates a barrier. It is a relational poison. It does not make God weak; it makes us alienated. It does not make God deaf; it makes our prayers unheard because they are offered from a position of rebellion.
Notice the language: "your iniquities," "your sins." This is a direct, personal indictment. This is not about societal forces or unfortunate circumstances. This is about your rebellion. The reason God's face is hidden is not that He is playing a cosmic game of hide-and-seek. It is that our sin is so foul, so contrary to His holy nature, that He must turn His face away. A holy God cannot have fellowship with wickedness. Light cannot make a treaty with darkness. The separation is the necessary, geometric consequence of our treason against the King of heaven.
A Head-to-Toe Diagnosis (vv. 3-4)
The prophet does not leave this as a general accusation. He brings out the medical chart and shows us the disease in every part of the body.
"For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken a lie; Your tongue mutters unrighteousness. No one calls in righteousness, and no one seeks justice in truth. They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness..." (Isaiah 59:3-4)
This is a picture of total depravity, not in the sense that everyone is as evil as they could possibly be, but in the sense that sin has corrupted every faculty. The hands, meant for building and helping, are stained with violence. The fingers, meant for fine and detailed work, are busy with specific sins. The lips and tongue, meant for praise and truth, spew lies and wickedness. The corruption is total.
And it has infected the entire society. The courthouse is a sham. "No one calls in righteousness, and no one seeks justice in truth." The very systems meant to uphold order are themselves corrupt. And what do they trust in instead of God? They "trust in confusion." The Hebrew word is tohu, the same word used in Genesis 1:2 to describe the formless void before God brought His creative order. Sin is a de-creation project. It is an attempt to drag God's orderly world back into chaos and nothingness. They speak "worthlessness," and their plans, conceived in trouble, give birth only to more wickedness.
Viper Eggs and Spider Webs (vv. 5-6)
Isaiah now gives us two of the most devastating metaphors in all of Scripture to describe the works of sinful men.
"They break open vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies... Their webs will not become a garment, Nor will they cover themselves with their works..." (Isaiah 59:5-6)
First, their projects are like hatching viper eggs. A sinful enterprise might look small and harmless, like an egg. But what is inside? Venom and death. To partake in their schemes, to "eat of their eggs," is to die. And if you try to stop it, if you try to crush the egg, what happens? A snake breaks forth. This is the nature of sin. It always multiplies and always bites back. You cannot manage it or contain it. It is deadly from conception.
Second, their attempts at self-righteousness are like weaving a spider's web. A spider's web is an intricate thing. It can look impressive. But try to make a shirt out of it. Try to cover your nakedness with it. It is flimsy, useless, and offers no protection at all. This is a perfect picture of all human religion and moral self-improvement projects. You can weave together an elaborate system of good deeds, pious thoughts, and religious observance, but when you stand before the holy Judge of all the earth, it will be as useless as a garment of cobwebs. Your works cannot cover you.
The Dead End of Rebellion (vv. 7-8)
The prophet concludes this section by describing the inevitable destination of this path.
"Their feet run to evil... Devastation and destruction are in their highways... They do not know the way of peace... Whoever treads on them does not know peace." (Isaiah 59:7-8)
Sin creates a terrible momentum. Their feet do not stumble into evil; they run to it. They are eager to do wrong. The result is that the public square, the "highways," are filled with devastation and destruction. When a people abandons God's law, their society collapses. It is an iron law of history.
And the root of it all is this: "They do not know the way of peace." The Hebrew is shalom, which means far more than an absence of conflict. It means wholeness, flourishing, integrity, and right-relatedness to God and man. They have rejected the God of shalom, and so they cannot have shalom. Their paths are crooked, twisted, and everyone who walks on them will find only anxiety and strife. You cannot find peace on a crooked path.
The Arm That Is Not Short
The diagnosis is utterly bleak. We have built a wall of sin. Our hands are bloody, our words are lies, our best works are cobwebs, and our plans are vipers' eggs. We are utterly unable to fix ourselves or to bridge the chasm we have created. If the story ended here, it would be a story of complete despair.
But remember how the passage began. "Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short That it cannot save." This entire, devastating diagnosis is the necessary backdrop for the glorious announcement of salvation. God is showing us the sheer impossibility of our situation so that we would look for a savior outside of ourselves.
The wall of separation our sins erected was a wall that we could never tear down. But God, in His mercy, did what we could not do. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the arm of the Lord revealed. On the cross, Jesus stood in the breach. He absorbed the full force of God's wrath against our sin. He took the blood-guilt of our hands upon His own. He wore the crown of thorns that our wicked thoughts deserved. He broke down the dividing wall of hostility with His own body (Ephesians 2:14).
He did not offer us a garment of spider webs. He offers us His own perfect, seamless robe of righteousness. He did not hatch vipers' eggs. He crushed the serpent's head. He did not walk on a crooked path. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the Prince of Shalom, and He gives His peace to all who abandon their own crooked paths and follow Him.
The reason God does not hear the prayers of a rebellious world is because of sin. But the prayer of a penitent sinner, offered in the name of Jesus Christ, is a prayer that God's ear is never, ever too dull to hear. His hand is not too short to save you, right now, from the devastation of your own crooked path. The only question is whether you will stop trying to weave your own cobwebs and receive the free gift of His grace.