Reflecting God’s Devotions for Holy Living – Wednesday, 8 January 2014 “Justice Rather Than Ritual” Scripture Isaiah False and True Worship 58

Reflecting God’s Devotions for Holy Living – Wednesday, 8 January 2014 “Justice Rather Than Ritual” Scripture Isaiah False and True Worship

58: Shout out, do not hold back!

    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion,

    to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet day after day they seek me

    and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness

    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments,

    they delight to draw near to God.

3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?

    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,

    and oppress all your workers.

4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

    and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today

    will not make your voice heard on high.

5 Is such the fast that I choose,

    a day to humble oneself?

Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,

    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast,

    a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I choose:

    to loose the bonds of injustice,

    to undo the thongs 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 them,

    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

    and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicator[a] 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 for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,

    the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

10 if you offer your food to the hungry

    and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

    and your gloom be like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you continually,

    and satisfy your needs in parched places,

    and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

    like a spring of water,

    whose waters never fail.

12 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 live in.

13 If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

    from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call the sabbath a delight

    and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

    serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;[b]

14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,

    and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,

    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Footnotes:

a. Isaiah 58:8 Or vindication

b. Isaiah 58:13 Heb or speaking words

“Justice Rather Than Ritual” by H. Ray Dunning

The people addressed by the prophet in Isaiah 58 have perverted the real purpose of fasting. They believed that by denying themselves food God was put into their debt. He must therefore do what they want. They failed to recognize that God did not have to be induced into acting by bodily mortification. Fasting became their way of bargaining with God. The real purpose of fasting is not to influence God to act but to demonstrate the seriousness of one’s repentance. Because they failed to understand fasting’s true meaning, they cannot understand why God does not “keep his end of the bargain.”

God, through the prophet, declares that what He is really looking for is the kind of behavior that should characterize His chosen people. Specifically, He is expecting the kind of relation between persons that is like His treatment of them. This means releasing fellow human beings from unjust slavery.

We think we have eliminated slavery in our civilized world but the truth is that many today are enslaved under the yoke of poverty as the result of the greed of others. True fasting might entail seeking to address the structures of society that result in many experiencing injustice.

Hymn for Today:

“Rise Up, O Church of God” by Norman O. Forness

1. Rise up, O church of God!

From vain ambition turn;

Christ rose triumphant that your hearts

with nobler zeal might burn.

2. Speak out, O church of God!

Despair engulfs earth's frame;

as heirs of God's baptismal grace

his word of hope proclaim.

3. Rise up, O church of God!

His kingdom's task embrace;

redress sin's cruel consequence;

give justice larger place.

4. Give heed, O church of God!

Creation cries in pain;

stretch forth your hand of healing now,

with love the weak sustain.

5. Commit your hearts to seek

the paths which Christ has trod,

and, quickened by the Spirit's power,

rise up, O church of God!

Thought for Today:

“Prayer and fasting help us keep life in perspective and teach us to depend upon God” (Session Truth).

Prayer Needs:

Many people in Jordan will come to know Jesus The Christ (Yeshua The Messiah) and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

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