Isaiah 58
July 31
Reading: Isaiah 58
1 "Cry aloud; do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
3 'Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?'
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 "Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
13 "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
or seeking your own pleasure,
or talking idly;
14 then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Isaiah 58 continues the indictments begun back in chapter 56, indictments that are characteristic of Isaiah’s prophesy.
What is it that the exiled people of Israel are being convicted of? In verses 1-4 the people of God are depicted doing religious things and wondering why the Lord is not impressed with them. They are acting like “a nation who has done righteousness” and they wonder why the Lord has so mistreated them. They are gaslighting God.
“Gaslight” is an idiom used to depict someone who is behaving in an offensive manner, but treating others like they are crazy for saying so. “What? Do you mean to say that I am breaking Your laws? Look at me. I’m being good. Are you crazy?”
In verse 5, God tells His people that He did not command them to do the religiousy things they are doing, to act like they are performing for Him. In verse 6 He makes it clear that what He has always expected is obedience from the heart and caring for the hungry, poor, homeless people all around them. James 1:27 tells us, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
The Lord explains in verses 6-12 what this pure and undefiled religion ought to look like. In verses 13-14 the Lord applies this thinking to Sabbath-keeping. The purpose of Sabbath is that the Lord deserves a day a week, from us, to use for His pleasure, not ours.
What does it mean for you to set aside your time and money for the Lord’s service? Do you tithe? Do you look for people to care for? Do you set aside Sabbath for the Lord? An entire day a week? At least we can recognize that these things are important to the Lord, and begin making progress in our lives toward honoring Him in those things that are priorities to Him.