When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.
Isaiah 64 is a prayer for God to dramatically intervene in history. The people of Israel are suffering and calling on God to act as he had in the past. Verse 3 looks backward with awe: "you did awesome things that we did not expect." The phrase "you came down" echoes moments in Scripture when God, who exists beyond the physical world, chose to enter history in tangible, earthshaking ways. "The mountains trembled" is most likely a reference to Mount Sinai, where God appeared to Moses in fire and smoke and the whole mountain shook (Exodus 19). The people are essentially saying: God, you have done things before that no one saw coming — things so powerful that creation itself shook. We need you to do it again.
God, you are not predictable, and I confess that sometimes frightens me. I've built a careful picture of how things should go. Help me release it. Come down and do what only you can do — even if it shakes the ground I'm standing on. Amen.
"Things we did not expect." That phrase deserves a long pause. Isaiah isn't talking about pleasant surprises — birthday cake and good news. He's talking about the kind of divine action that dismantles your assumptions about what's even possible. Mountains trembling. History pivoting on a hinge no one saw coming. The people had been trying to imagine what rescue might look like, and God showed up doing something that wasn't on anyone's list. That's the God this verse describes: not tame, not predictable, not safely contained within anyone's careful theology. You may have a detailed picture in your head of how God is supposed to show up in your situation — what it should look like, what timeline makes sense, what form the answer should take. This verse gently, or maybe not so gently, invites you to loosen your grip on that picture. God has a long history of doing awesome things that people did not expect. The mountains trembled. The story turned. What if his plans for your situation are better and stranger than anything you've been praying for?
What does it mean that these "awesome things" were things "we did not expect" — why would God's actions surprise the very people who were praying for him to act?
Describe a time when God worked in your life in a way you genuinely didn't see coming. How did that change your mental picture of who he is?
Why do people tend to prefer predictable, controllable answers to prayer over wild and unexpected ones? What does that preference reveal about the nature of trust?
When you're hoping and waiting for something alongside others — a family member, a friend group, a church community — how does holding your expected outcome too tightly affect those relationships?
Is there a specific situation in your life right now where you need to release a particular expected outcome and ask God to do whatever he deems best, even if it shakes the ground? What would that surrender actually look like?
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
Isaiah 64:1
And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.
Nehemiah 4:14
Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Exodus 15:11
When You did awesome and amazing things which we did not expect, You came down [at Sinai]; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
AMP
When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
ESV
When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.
NASB
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
NIV
When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence.
NKJV
When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked!
NLT
To shock your enemies into facing you, make the nations shake in their boots! You did terrible things we never expected, descended and made the mountains shudder at your presence.
MSG