Focus

Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God.

Read

Isaiah 58:1-9a (NRSV)

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.

Reflect

Isaiah was reminding the people that is not possible to lead a life of selfishness and then to think that fasting and offering sacrifices can be done without a change of heart. Through the voice of Isaiah, God reminded the people of the purpose of fasting. God wanted their laws to reflect justice. God challenged the oppression of their workers when this fast was an opportunity to right the injustice in the land. They fasted in the name of Lord, yet there were hungry in the land. God reminded them in verse 8 that healing would begin when they began to practice justice.

Do we worship on Sunday and then forget God’s call to bring justice into the world? How often do we ignore the fact that so many children go to bed hungry? How often do we ignore those who are poor, feeling like it is their own fault that they are poor?

There are many causes of poverty. In some areas transportation to job sites is not available. Sometimes a single mother may have to work as many as three part-time jobs to clothe and feed her children. God does not call us to determine why a person may have been reduced to poverty, but to seek justice for those whose voices go unheard.

Pray

Dear God, please forgive me for putting off doing good things for others. There are many times when I have an opportunity to help others and I simply choose not to. Please place upon my heart the things you want me to do. Help me to see justice as you do and to look for ways to bring justice. Amen.

Go with God.