Isa 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
God appears in this passage to be very un-american. He is the living holy one who dwells (lives, abides and stays) with broken down ones. He is not the God who visits the nursing home, who walks through the depressed neighborhoods, who calls the totally whacked to see how they are doing. He goes and lives with them so that they can be revived or come to life.
If God dwells on high and in holy places, yet he lives with the contrite and lowly, does that mean that they(the broken and depressed) are on height with Him? Are the broken down with God in the elevated dwelling place? Are they dwelling in Him and possessing the Holy Mountain?
What type of God hangs out with and lives with the broken people of the world? Are we not all taught in the American church to be "something special" so that we are blessed, rewarded and valued? Do we not all sing songs of triumph which have us winning the battle, overcoming the enemy and defeating the foe through our faith? Are we only partly educated and equipped?
"Revive" here means to "live". God is a God of life. If you already have a life, if your daily existence is full of stuff, activity, recreation, family, friends, lunches, dinners, sporting events, concerts, theater, biking, eating, singing; then you have no room for God, no room for life. But if you find yourself on the edge of emptiness, if you feel a lack in your heart, a desire for something more, then there is hope.
According to Isaiah 57:15 here is what you do to pull yourself out of the situation and brokenness you are in. First of all you "be". Second you look for the God who said He would be there as you "be". Thirdly you spiritually allow God to descend into your brokenness and lift you to His height and holy places. You can say "no" to both the indwelling presence of God and the revival of your life. Your pain will try to make you say no. Fear and hopelessness will not always yield easily, but God is long suffering and persistent.
Here is my "Crashed, smashed and broken prayer".
HERE I AM, COME AND GET ME!!!!
Even if you are suffering pain, it is actually quite hard to be down cast if you are truly interacting with the presence of God. You can be in so much pain that your mind is numb to everything else. That is another situation with another method of revival. But for those trapped in brokenness there is an method of elevation, and it comes in the form of the dwelling of God.
