“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save.”
– Isaiah 59:1
Oh, don’t you love that verse? The Lord’s hand is not short. Not so short that it cannot save. I think about my own life. I encourage you to think about your life. God has clearly shown that his hand is not too short to save despite our sin, despite where any one of us, every one of us, should be.
Here we are praying to God, hearing his words, celebrating his salvation in our lives. There’s no way we would be saved, I would be saved from my sin, if God’s hand was too short to save. And the reality is his hand is not too short to save your mom or your dad who you’ve been praying for, for years. Or your son or daughter, or this or that family member, or this or that friend.
Isaiah 59:1 Reminds Us to Pray for the Unreached
Who comes to your mind when you think about somebody who seems so far from salvation, so hard to the gospel? Who comes to your mind? And as they come to your mind, just hear the word of God. “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save.”
And we pray all the time on this podcast for people groups around the world who have little to no knowledge of the gospel. Today, to think about the Mali people group of India. 12.4 million of them hardly any known followers of Jesus, worshiping millions upon millions of Hindu gods, and the Lord’s hand is not too short to save the Mali people or Somali people or North Korean people or Yemeni Arabs, or Baloch in Pakistan, or the people groups of Afghanistan that we prayed for all throughout May on this podcast.
Isaiah 59:1 Leads Us to Give God for the Glory
So let’s pray. God, we give you glory for your long hand, your powerful hand, that brought about our salvation. We were rebelling against you, running from you and we shudder to think where we would be right now, we’re it not for your long, powerful, overpowering hand of salvation in our lives.
Thank you for saving us, saving me from my sin, our sin. And God, we want to pray in faith, right now and based on Isaiah 59:1, for all kinds of people that are coming to our minds right now, I’ve got people coming to my mind and trust there. Others coming to others’ minds. God, we pray for their salvation. For family members, for friends, for coworkers. Oh, even God as we pray for Afghanistan. We pray for those who are persecuting Christians there. We pray for the salvation of Taliban leaders. Your hand is not too short to save them, oh God. We pray for dictators in the world for their salvation.
Asking God to Save People Groups
Oh God, we think of world leaders who seem far from salvation, far from the gospel. We pray right now based on Isaiah 59:1, “Your hand is not too short to save them,” oh God. And to save people groups. The Mali people group. God, we intercede for them together, right now. Your hand is powerful enough to save them, God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to the Mali, people of India, that they would turn from millions of false gods to trust in Jesus as the one, true God.
God show your salvation. Your powerful hand of salvation among the Mali people. We pray for that. For people right around us, far from us, for the most unlikely people. We pray, oh God, for their salvation. Please, please, God, show that your hand is not too short that it cannot save. We pray this in Jesus’ name, directly according to your word in Isaiah 59:1. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
