" ' Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. 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. " 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. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You can not fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sack cloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?"[58:1-5]
God is addressing the essence of his people's heart and actions apart from mere appearances...
He begins by declaring that His people are in rebellion even though they appear, to the natural eye, to be living rightly... seeking him...eager to know his ways...humbling themselves...
In reality, they may give the public appearance of righteousness, but behind closed doors and in their hearts they dishonor Him and chose their own way...
" A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" kind of thing...
" A form of godliness but denying its power [2 Timothy 3]" reality...
Putting on an air of being one thing while truly operating and thinking as another...
What we are on the inside is the reality- no matter what we portray on the outside....
This is God's desire for His people...that we live " righteous, inside -out" lives...
Lives that display His splendor and His glory from the inside-out.
This is not religion but, relationship!
The way we do life...
When we align ourselves with God and righteous living, here's the picture and the promise...
" Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 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?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here I am.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise up in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
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. 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.
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, then you will finds your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken."[Isaiah 58: 6-14]
Seeking after God -a pure desire; evidenced in our heart motives and actions, to know the more of Him...
A steady diet of denying our own flesh and esteeming and serving others...
The essence of following "The Way"...and as we do;
Our sphere of influence will grow, we will have favor with God and man, health, protection and provision...He will perfect everything that concerns us [Psalm 138:8] and establish us in every way[Psalm 90 & 91]!
Rise up, Beloved...follow "The Way"!
Taste and see that the Lord is good!
He longs to sing over us...the question is -will we allow Him to?
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