August 6 - Isaiah 58:1-9a

August 6 – Isaiah 58:1-9a

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.  ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

It seems as if today the world has moved farther and farther away from God, while Christians proclaim their own righteous holiness by vilifying the world and accusing it of being nothing less than the devil’s playground.  We stand in judgment of every word that comes out of the mouths of those around us, judging their actions with our disdain and many times our words, whether written or spoken; and standing as some kind of vanguard for the Lord, so that no one who is unclean may pass through our lines of safety to Him.

Isaiah is obviously wearied by those who come to him wondering why all of their pious activities aren’t gaining any notice. 

They would come before the Lord for just a single day, humble themselves and then as soon as they were gone from His presence they would return to their daily behavior.  Nothing was different for them because of their relationship with God.  And to top it off, they did absolutely nothing for anyone else.  Their ‘fasting’ was a self-centered activity, meant only to benefit their status in the community.

Isaiah’s words note that fasting had different ways of being performed.  He called them and he calls us to fast from the comfortable life and bring change to the lives of those around them.  Injustice is found everywhere, oppression can be seen wherever we look.  We are to share with those in need whatever it is that is required.  We are not to turn away from those who might need us.

We are to make ourselves humble before God every moment – every time we see need.  We are to look beyond that which surrounds us to see that immense world that cries out for grace and mercy.

Then, he says, our light will break forth, healing will come, righteousness will go before us and the Lord God will be our rear guard – always protecting us.  When we cry out, the Lord will answer.

Looking beyond ourselves.  Not an easy thing to do – but one that draws the Lord to us!