Isaiah 63:15-19--Prayer for Mercy

Isaiah 63:15-19
English Standard Version

Prayer for Mercy
15 Look down from heaven and see,
    from your holy and beautiful habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
    The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
    are held back from me.
16 For you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us,
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O LORD, are our Father,
    our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways
    and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.
18 Your holy people held possession for a little while;
    our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
    like those who are not called by your name.

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Isaiah calls on the LORD to have compassion on His people, on His children.  Though they are children of Abraham, Abraham does not know them--he has gone to Paradise and is no longer concerned with the affairs of men at this point, but the Father is intimately concerned with the affairs of His children.  He knows them well.  He Redeemed His people at Passover.  He saved them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and led them through the Red Sea, guided them through their forty years of wandering in the wilderness and led them into the Promised Land.  He didn't leave them there though--He was with them as they conquered their enemies, and don't forget that He gave them the Law and dwelt among them in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple).  God has had a very special relationship with His people Israel.  He promised now that even though they were going into Exile, He would go with them--they were not being exiled from Him, just from the Land.

If they feel far off from the LORD, it is because they have left Him, not because He has left them.  Their possession of the Land that He had promised to Abraham was but for a brief moment in the entirety of history, but the LORD would make good on His covenant promises and bring them back into the Land so that they could worship Him once more.  Though they have become just like the Gentiles that were never the people of God, they will one day be His people called by His name and bearing His Spirit once again, and an even better version as God will welcome in people from every tribe, tongue and nation to be redeemed by Him and be a part of His covenant people.  Those who were once far off have been brought near by Adoption.