“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.” Isaiah 58:2 ESV
Reflection: why do you seek the ways of the Lord?
Today, the Lord meets us with a fundamental question and challenge. That is, if we choose to really let it in, I mean, if we honestly consider what He is saying, for most of us it will change our lives. It may change what and how we seek Him, but more importantly, it will change what we do.
It will change us.
Let’s start with the basic question and reflection of why we go to church, why read and study the Bible, and why we pray. What is the point of it all, to what purpose? What are we actually trying to achieve with those activities? Before reading on, you might want to stop here, for a while, and really think about your own motivations, what is driving you to do those things. For many, it is the pursuit of truth, of God. Of His ways. We know that He has (and is) the eternal truth, and we know that we are lacking that in ourselves. For some, going to church or a bible study is about the fellowship of other believers, of meeting likeminded friends. For others, it is mostly about tradition. It is just something we do on Sundays, because that is how we were raised. But regardless of your motivations, the question the Lord meets us with today, is
What do you do with all this knowledge?
The beginning of Isaiah chapter 58 starts with the Lord saying ““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.” Isaiah 58:1 ESV. When we read this verse, we would imagine that “grave sins” have been done by His people, that He would call out next. But we are in for a bit of a shock here. In the following verse, the focus verse today, we indeed learn about their sins. Let’s read it again. “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.” Isaiah 58:2 ESV. The Lord says that the people “seek and delight to know His ways”, and “they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.” What??
How can this be a grave sin?
The answer is partially in verse 2, a bit hard to see, but also in the following verses. Let’s start with v2, where the Lord says “as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God;” Isaiah 58:2b ESV. The key are the two words “as if”, which in English means “acting like” or “behaving like”. In other words, they act one way, but do something else. They are hypocrites, which we know abundantly clear that the Lord hates, He despises. He goes on explaining what the people say to Him, “‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’” Isaiah 58:3a ESV. The people saying that they are doing what the Lord put on them. So He should bless them, right? But the Lord calls their hypocrisy out.
“Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.” Isaiah 58:3 ESV
They “fast”, they keep the “sabbath”, but in word only. It was all for show. Their hearts were not in it. And, a bit later in the chapter, the Lord is generous enough to once again explain what the purpose of the fasting is. He says ““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? 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?”Isaiah 58:6-7 ESV. This goes to the heart of the matter, it is about doing the work of God in the world, starting with 1) remove wickedness, 2) lift heavy burdens of people, 3) free the oppressed, 4) feed the hungry, 5) house the homeless, 6) clothe the naked, and 7) care for all your family.
Sounds familiar?
You might remember that Jesus also talked about this, recorded in Matthew 25. Let’s read about those who ignored it, ““Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’” Matthew 25:41-45 ESV This is very serious, because it is about how the truth has changed us. It is not about fasting (or reading the Bible, going to church, etc) for the purpose of looking good, but it is to change us from being self focused, to do God’s work among people.
To turn knowledge of His ways into action, into good fruit.
This is really the core, at the very heart of becoming a Christian, a true follower of Christ. It is not just about having the knowledge of truth; it is about turning that knowledge into doing His will. Everything else is a dead end, and He has warned us about that. So, back to the original question for each of us to consider why we seek God. Is it for show, or is it truly to let Him change us from the inside, so that we can learn what action He wants us to do? As we will look at next, His promises follow those who do His will.
