Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
This statement is part of a confession from Isaiah 63 and 64. The confession is that none of us are clean, none of us are righteous. Humanity is full of corruption and evil, not worthy of the favour of a perfectly holy God.
Our only hope is for God to forgive us and treat us with mercy. And this is exactly what He has done.
The relationship between God and people has been restored, but in a way that is surprising. God is a king, and unlike human kingdoms, his kingdom is without corruption. He rules with perfect justice. So, if a crime is committed in the kingdom of God, the offender is removed from the kingdom.
However, out of His mercy, God has not only forgiven us for our crimes, but He has also restored us by adopting us as His own children. We now have full access to all the benefits of being children of the King of kings.
If you are carrying with you a sense of guilt or remorse for your sins, allow Isaiah to speak to your heart. Confess and proclaim these words:
Since before time began
no one has ever imagined,
No ear heard, no eye seen, a God like you
who works for those who wait for him.
You meet those who happily do what is right,
who keep a good memory of the way you work.
But how angry you’ve been with us!
We’ve sinned and kept at it so long!
Is there any hope for us? Can we be saved?
We’re all sin-infected, sin-contaminated.
Our best efforts are grease-stained rags.
We dry up like autumn leaves—
sin-dried, we’re blown off by the wind.
No one prays to you
or makes the effort to reach out to you
Because you’ve turned away from us,
left us to stew in our sins.
Still, God, you are our Father.
(From Isaiah 64, according to The Message paraphrase)
William Knelsen 
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