Making God Tired – Isaiah 43:22-28

Having problems with your dog being too energetic?  Here are ten ways to tire him out, so you can survive and thrive at home.  But how do you tire out Someone whose energy is unlimited?

“Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!  You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices.  I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.  You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.  But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.  Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.  Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.  Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.  (Isaiah 43:22-28 ESV)

God has made a promise to Israel that He will restore her from exile after she is judged by Him worthy of exile.  He has made it plain that He is a forgiving God.  But instead of calling upon Him, repenting and avoiding judgment altogether, they express their weariness with Him.

When Yahweh says, “You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,” He does not mean they didn’t offer sacrifices, because they did, but they did not really offer them to Him out of love for Him but to get Him off their back.

This is why in reality they had burdened him with their sins.  It is like your child doing what you tell him only because he feels forced to, but inwardly he hates you.  It wearies you.

Yahweh is willing to forgive Israel if she can demonstrate she is truly repentant.  But as her first father, Abraham, sinned, so has she, and so God will bring judgment on her leaders, political and spiritual, and bring the nation as a whole to utter destruction.

Are we weary of God?  Do we go to church more to get Him off our back than to really worship and enjoy Him?  Even so, God is willing to blot out our iniquities and stop remembering our sins with discipline.  He challenges us to argue our case for rebellion.  We may lose that argument and stomp away to judgment, or we might lose the argument and soften to His love.  Arguing is at least engaging with Him in real intimacy and not just marking time, not just giving up on Him.

Discussion Questions

1. What kind of person makes you tired and why?
2. What is the reason God is tired of Israel?
3. What does God desire more than offerings?
4. Have you tired God with anything you do?
5. God has blotted out our transgressions for His own sake by sending Jesus to die for those transgressions.  What is the metaphor behind “blotting out”?
6. What is our only argument for why God should forgive us?