“then you will take delight in the LORD” Isaiah 58:14 Delight – What is more rewarding than seeing the face of a small child opening a brightly wrapped gift? The excitement, the joy, the anticipation and the sheer delight portrayed in that countenance is more thrilling than all rest of the festivities. Why? What makes…
“and you shall be called the repairer of the breech, the restorer of the streets” Isaiah 58:12 Restorer – Jesus is born to be the restorer. If we follow in His footsteps, we must also be the restorers. The Hebrew word shuv is used more than 1000 times in the Old Testament. It has a…
“and you shall be watered like a garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail” Isaiah 58:11 Watered – Clearly Isaiah was mistaken. How could he have used the word raweh for “watered”? After all, the root of this word is rawa, a word that means, “to be satiated, to have…
“The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land” Isaiah 58:11 NIV Guide – No man would consider climbing Everest without a guide. To do so would virtually guarantee suicide. Climbing Everest requires the greatest of preparation and planning, the best equipment and the most trusted guides. Crossing the…
“Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry, and He will say, “Here I am””. Isaiah 58:9 Cry – What does it sound like when you pray? Are your prayers civil, reserved, circumspect? Are they rituals of propriety, head bowed, eyes closed? Do you pray as though you were standing in…
“Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry, and He will say, “Here I am””. Isaiah 58:9 Here I am – Sometimes the deepest implications are found in the strangest places. You will recall this Hebrew word. It is hinneh. We see it time and again when human beings respond to…
“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 him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood.” Isaiah 58:7 Turn Away – The last gift on God’s list is perhaps the most difficult to give. …
“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?” Isaiah 58:6 NIV Injustice – If Christmas is the celebration of the birth of God’s Son, why aren’t we giving Him the presents? …
“to bow his head down like a bulrush” Isaiah 58:5 Bulrush – When I was a child, we called them cattails. Those long green stalks rising from the water’s edge, ending in a clump of densely packed seeds. Isaiah uses this image to describe one important aspect of false worship: the ease of bowing in…
“Why have we fasted”, they say, “and you have not seen it”. “Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?” Isaiah 58:3 NIV Why? – The people complain: “Why don’t you hear us? We have fasted. We have done our duty. But you don’t answer. Why don’t you do something? Don’t you see…
