Isaiah 58

In biblical tradition, three is a number of great significance. In the first 20 years of my life, I think that I may have read or heard Isaiah 58 perhaps three times. Maybe. So I found it significant when I came across that very convicting chapter of the bible three times in less that 24 hours through no intention of my own.

Some or all of it was read in chapel yesterday, and I thought "those were some good verses" shortly before forgetting all about them.

Late that night I sat in the prayer room, eyes closed in attempted meditation, breathing in and out deeply, intending each exhalation to signify the worries and distractions leaving my being, making room for God's spirit to flood in like a rush of life-giving oxygen replenishing deflated lungs.

"Fill me with you alone," I prayed, but remnants of show tunes danced through my mind. I sat there for a long time, determined that God would reward my patience and that if the distracting thoughts did not leave, it meant I was not being patient enough and meditating long enough. It makes sense that God would desire discipline in seeking Him; that He doesn't simply provide a quick fix for those who suddenly realize they would like to be filled with God. But eventually I felt that the best spiritual benefit I was receiving was that which comes through having clean lungs to sing God's praises with. My eyes almost flickered open, but a part of me couldn't fail, couldn't allow all that time spent in meditation to end without significance. My eyes stayed closed as if my eyelids were magnetized. Clearly patience was winning out. But for some reason it seemed wrong. Again my eyes attempted to open, but I refused their instinct. This happened a couple of times before a strange determination rose up inside of me and I threw open my eyes to stare at the bright yellow wall in front of me. I grabbed my bible and flipped it open, and my sight fell onto Isaiah 58. I didn't recall it from chapel due to the name, but I started to recognize it as I read. This time I read slowly and paid close attention to each sentence.

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their rebellion

and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsaken the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,

‘and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves,

and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a^] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

For a while longer I read in the bible, then decided to engage in another spiritual discipline -- prayer.

"Dear God," I started off, intending to incline my heart towards humility and receptiveness, "I don't know what your will is, but please just give..." again something in me revolted and I threw my eyes open in rude interruption to my prayer. Yes I do! Don't I already know what His will is, and isn't it for me to be kind, selfless, to give my life for the good works that He has prepared for me? Again I grabbed my bible and opened it up, and my eyes fell upon the words of Luke 6:35 -- "But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return."

The surrounding verses laid it all out pretty plainly as well.

Luke 6.

20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Love for Enemies

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Once I got done with some reflexion time and talking with Tyler and Trevor, plus starting my Gospels and Acts homework, which was a summary of the entire Old Testament with many short answer-response type questions, I didn't go to bed until almost 2 am with much of the homework unfinished. So the next morning, after Tyler and I got up at 7:00 and read a couple chapters from Matthew together, I skipped my usual Tuesday/Thursday morning nap and finished the homework instead. Our teacher had chosen excerpts from the Old Testament all the way from creation to the Book of Maccabbees. About 800 pages of scripture had been pared down to 20. And among all the historical accounts he chose, one passage really stood out. It was the entire chapter of Isaiah 58. Even though I felt rather familiar with it at that point and was cutting it very close on time, I read the entire thing very carefully.