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.
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.
“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.
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.
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?
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?
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?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. (Isaiah 58:1–9 NIV)
There is a tongue-in-cheek TV commercial in Canada that suggests when you live in a space long enough you stop noticing the smells in it – smells that might be offensive to others. They call it being “nose-blind” and then advocate the solution to be their air fresheners. In many ways, this passage from Isaiah speaks to our similar “nose-blindness” to our own spiritual condition, and God’s true solution.
The people of Isaiah’s day have returned home from exile, but to a razed land. The temple has been destroyed, and they are struggling to be God’s people in their heavy circumstances. Here, they come with an argument against God: Why is he not fixing things for them? Why, when they are carrying out practices like fasting, is he not performing how they want him to?
How many of us have struggled with that question? We think we are doing the right things, but God is not responding the way we want. Where is he?
Somehow, the people of Judah (and we ourselves) have been convinced God should be more like a vending machine. We put in a coin; we should get the result we want – a bit like a math equation where our works plus our request equals God’s benevolent action.
The Lord replies through Isaiah declaring he will not be manipulated by their inauthentic fasts and rituals. They have missed the mark. He is looking for authentic faith, with practice that comes out of love and relationship with him. He does not want a life that only outwardly acts obedient to look good but has a heart far from God, and far from his heart for others. If we are really people of God, we will have his heart. Our actions need to be congruent to our connection with him.
The people are called back to genuine faith; lives seeing the needs of others around them, then moving to meet those needs. This is not about changing a leger in our favor with God – it is about true love for our brothers and sisters, to bring justice to their inequities and needs. This is what a real body of believers should look like. We cannot separate ourselves from the unity toward our brothers and sisters we are called into. True relationship has outflow. Any spiritual practice we have should knit us closer to the Lord and help us see and act with compassion toward others.
Have we been somewhat “nose-blind” as a people of God? People doing more to look good or to subtly attempt manipulating God? Perhaps leaning on our own self-righteousness rather than being people with a soft heart, flowing from unity with the Father, Son, and Spirit? Or being people with a responsive heart for our brothers and sisters around us? When we live from relationship with God, this passage tells us our light will break out (influence); we will experience healing (restoration), his victory (spiritual and otherwise), and his answers (wisdom). Because we know his heart, this will be a natural result.
How does this convicting passage speak to you today? Are there any areas in your life where you are using works rather than relationship to curry favour with God? Has it left you with bitterness or disappointment in him? Do you need a reset, where rituals are transformed into relational connection?
What needs in the lives of others are going unmet around you? Ask the Lord to give you renewed love from him to walk as a Christ follower, living as a reconciler, meeting the needs he shows you.
Christine Okken is the executive assistant to Dr. Harry Kelm, the NAB executive director.
