On Isaiah58

And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted your light will rise in darkness and you gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Isaiah58:10-11

This promise really struck me last week and has become a source of both prayer and conviction in my life. Right before this promise God was talking about fasting and was responding to his people who were fasting and yet not receiving what they wanted (which is not the point of fasting) from God. These people were 'performing' for God and hoping to be noticed but in the midst of their fasting they were grumpy, mean, uncaring, quarrelsome, and all around unjust. It is really fascinating and unnerving how missing a few meals can really bring to the surface the ugliness in my heart that controls me. God's response to these people is that the fast He chooses is to loosen the bonds of wickedness...let the oppressed go free...divide your bread with the hungry...house the homeless and the poor... cover the naked... do not hide from your fellow man... He is not talking about skipping lunch but about a lifestyle of self denial and humble service to the world.
An unnegotiable characteristic of the Lord is the way that He loves the afflicted and commands us to do the same. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor. psalm140:12. To me it is still a daunting thing to even face wickedness let alone make it leave, to set people free, to give food to the hungry, to bring poor and homeless people into my own home, to even see anyone naked and choose to take it upon myself to clothe them! Why do this Lord? was a question I had to ask... I don't think it's because these people deserve it, or because I am better than them and they need me, it's not because God needs my help either, or because I am really resourceful and have a lot to offer -- It's because He said to. Because it brings Him honor and shows who He is and not who we are.
Oh, the riches that would open up to us if we would actively and continually choose to live out these commands. It is without question that I can't do these things of my own good will -- and this is where the promise comes in. He promises that if we choose to do these things that He will show His light, that he will guide us, satisfy us, strengthen us, pour us out, and even repair and restore us in the process. As one who is often broken, this truth has helped me see that in the midst of brokenness I don't need to hide and wait for God to heal me before I can serve but that the act of service itself brings about healing for us.
I am acutely aware of the numerous opportunities I pass up everyday to do these very things -- but I really WANT this promise, and I am asking God to decrease me and my fears and increase my belief in Him and in God's truth that is better than anything I can choose to give or withhold from the dying world around me.

To act justly every day, loving mercy in every way. Seek to serve and not be served -- Jesus, You have shown us what You require.. freely we've received now freely we will give. We must go-- live to feed the hungry, stand beside the broken, we must go. Stepping forward, keep us from just singing, move us into action we must go. - Tim Hughes To Act Justly