SUK
2023/6/11
Isaiah 58:1-14
Isaiah 58:1-14
有聲聖經
(Isaiah 58:10)
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.
Although the people are fasting, they are selfish and evil. God wants them to fast. What should they do?
The people complained: Why didn’t God see their austere fasting? accuse God of unfaithfulness. But God asked them to reflect:Although you are fasting, you still selfishly force people to do hard labor, compete with each other, and even beat people. Is this the inferiority attitude that fasting should have? Fasting is afflicting one’s heart, turning from sin, setting the oppressed free, sharing food with the poor, offering protection. If so, God will heal them, hear their prayers, pursue justice, and God will protect them from darkness. Just like in the past, God guided and provided them in the wilderness, and now He also promises them to restore their physical and mental health, make them live like in the Garden of Eden, have abundant water supply, and rebuild their abandoned homes. Keeping the Sabbath is not just about not working, but about adjusting your pace: not doing your own private affairs, following your own private wishes, and speaking your own private words. Honor this day, it is a day to glorify God, and God will take care of them.
God is pleased with real fasting, see what Jesus did after fasting for 40 days
- Fasting:Refers to the spiritual practice of not eating food and not being considerate of selfish desires. Use fasting and prayer, work hard to get close to God, seek His face, and understand His will.
- To coerce: to force, to compel.
- Reed
- Yoke:The bent wood on the necks of cattle and horses at both ends of the scale.
True love for God is not just an external ceremony, but a true understanding from the heart and obeying His will in behavior. Am I being selfish, bullying, competitive, or even hitting? I want to please God both inwardly and outwardly, and enjoy His joy and peace.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank Jesus for cleansing and forgiving my sins, setting me free, protecting and taking care of me. Please help me to worship You with my heart and truth, not just go to church on the surface, help me to truly repent from my heart, and to love others sincerely in my behavior, so as to receive Your joy, care and protection. In the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.