Question 1

What does look down from heaven mean in this passage?

Accepted Answer

When the people say, “Look down from heaven,” they are asking God to pay close attention to their trouble and act. They know God is holy and glorious, yet they feel like he is far away. So they pray that he would turn his face toward them again, see their misery, and show the same mercy and power he showed in the past. It is not doubt that God can see, but a childlike plea: “Please notice us and help us, like you did before.”

Question 2

Why do the people call God our Father and our redeemer?

Accepted Answer

They call God “our Father” to remind themselves that their relationship with him is deeper than their connection to ancestors like Abraham and Israel. Even if those ancestors could not help them, God can. Calling him “our redeemer” points to how he has rescued them before and claimed them as his own people. By using these names, they appeal to God’s care, his past saving work, and his promise to stick with them even when they have sinned and feel abandoned.

Question 3

What does why hast thou made us to err from thy ways mean?

Accepted Answer

This line is the people wrestling with their own sin and God’s judgment. They know they have turned from God’s ways and that their hearts have become hard. They also see that God has pulled back his guiding grace because of their ingratitude. So they speak as if God has “made” them wander, meaning he has handed them over to their own desires. It is not blaming God, but admitting that losing his Spirit’s leading has exposed how weak and stubborn they really are.

Question 4

Why do they lament that adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary?

Accepted Answer

The sanctuary was the special place of worship where God’s presence was known among his people. When enemies trampled it, it was not just a military defeat. It felt like their whole life with God had been shattered. They lost the center of their worship, their sacrifices, and their sense of nearness to God. By mourning this, they are not only sad about a building, but about a broken relationship and the loss of shared worship that had once marked them as God’s holy people.

Question 5

What does we are thine mean at the end of this prayer?

Accepted Answer

When they say, “We are thine,” they are clinging to their identity as God’s people. Their enemies do not belong to God in this covenant way, but they do. They remind God that he has ruled over them, called them by his name, and made them his inheritance. This is a bold but humble appeal: “We still belong to you, even in our misery. Remember that we are yours, not like the nations who never knew you.” It is meant to move them to hope and move them to seek his mercy.

Question 6

Why do they say the people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while?

Accepted Answer

Here they are comparing their short time in the promised land with God’s everlasting promises. They had the land for many generations, yet in light of what God had promised, it feels very brief, because they are now driven out and under enemy rule. This short possession makes them grieve their sin and long for God to remember his covenant. They are saying, in effect, “Our time in your holy land was so short; please do not let that be the end of your promise to your people.”

Question 7

What does this passage teach about God’s character?

Accepted Answer

This prayer shows that God is holy, glorious, and set apart in heaven, yet he is also Father and Redeemer to his people. He has zeal and strength, deep compassion, and tender mercies, even when he feels distant. At the same time, he is just and will let people taste the results of turning from his ways. Still, the people believe his mercy is from everlasting. They pray based on his name and his past actions, trusting that he can return to them and restore what has been lost.

Question 8

How can this prayer guide believers who feel far from God today?

Accepted Answer

This prayer shows that when believers feel far from God because of sin or hardship, they can still cry out honestly. They can admit that their hearts feel hard and that they have wandered, and at the same time call God “our Father” and “our redeemer.” It encourages people to remember what God has done in the past, to confess their condition, and to ask him to return and help for the sake of his promises. It gives words to that mix of sorrow, hope, and trust in God’s mercy.

Isaiah 63:15

¶ Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

A Prayer for Mercy

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Isaiah 63:15

¶ Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

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A Prayer for Mercy

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