April 9, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“[If you fast as I have chosen] Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. 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 out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’” (Isaiah 58.8-9a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

On one of the days following the death of King Uzziah, Isaiah was in the Temple interceding on behalf of Israel as was his assigned duty. It was on one of those days that Isaiah encountered the revelation of the LORD God in full splendor in the Temple. I believe we must assume that he was in the Holy of Holies as the selected priest and there to present the appropriate sacrifice. What we do know is that Isaiah was still in grief for the loss of the king. The future was being determined as to the next steps for the new king and the consequences of this journey. Clouded in sorrow, Isaiah’s vision became clear. There he saw the Lord, high and lifted up and the train of His garment filled the Temple. Isaiah not only saw all of the Lord that he could take in but heard the word of the LORD speak. In the presence of the LORD, Isaiah fell to his face with declarations of unworthiness as the angels sang “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty, the earth is filled with His glory.” At that the whole Temple shook as if a great earthquake was happening. If Isaiah had not fallen to the ground prostrate before the LORD Almighty, then he would have surely been knocked off of his feet. Did anyone else experience it? Did those who grasped the rope tied around his ankle, as was the practice so that if the priest died in the presence of the Almighty he could be pulled out, experience the shaking and rumbling? Apparently not. Isaiah remained in the presence of the LORD long enough to confess his spiritual condition and that of the people of Israel and their unworthiness to be in the presence of the LORD Almighty. Upon his confession, the LORD directed his spiritual healing to commence. Following the resolution of his complaint of unworthiness, the LORD asked all those in that place, “Who will go for US? Whom shall I send?” No mention of agenda but “being sent.” No mention of the message as if Isaiah’s confession for himself and the people of God called Israel was sufficient. Was it a nervous and fearful response by which Isaiah answered the questions? You know how we get sometimes in those surprising and uncomfortable situations. We speak before thinking. We act before our mental processes become fully aware of what we are doing. Was this Isaiah? Or was Isaiah made aware in his spiritual healing of the depth of his duty as prophet and priest? Whether one side or the other or both, Isaiah responded: “Here I am, send me!” Even the first time I remember reading this text many years ago, I was awakened to a depth beyond the literal presentation. The only way I can share it with you, mighty ones of God, is in a written translation as follows: “Here, I AM, send me!” The bold, italicized and capitalized words I AM represent the very name of the LORD revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai. In Isaiah’s response, the audience is assumed to be the LORD and Isaiah is the subject. I do not hear it that way. I hear Isaiah’s intentionality of volunteering to the revealed God of Heaven and Earth. Isaiah speaks directly to and addresses face-to-face the LORD Almighty of whom the angels declared was, is and will always be “Holy, Holy, Holy!” [As a note: whenever I read Jesus’ words of identification such as “I am the good shepherd” or “I am the way, the truth and the life,” I cannot not hear Jesus speaking of God and the unity they share in the declaration of “I AM.”]

That had to be more than just a moving and empowering experience for Isaiah. It was a defining moment for his life and the future of Israel. The revelations which followed to be shared with the people of God from the king who was to be next, the King of kings who was yet to come and the people for whom they were tasked to care, nurture and join in ministry on earth revealed days to come leading up to the true restoration of “Israel.” Isaiah responded to the moment without concern for the future. He embraced the call of faith to be faithful to God trusting Him in all things at all times. His example of such a response was to be a witness and challenge to the people of God called Israel to do the same. What a turn of events when we arrive here in chapter 58 to hear the words coming from the opposite direction. It is as if God, the LORD, was answering what had become an age-old question (and one we still ask today), “Why doesn’t God hear us and answer our petitions and pleas in prayer?” Right there in verse 58.9a, God replies, “If you fast as I have chosen what is right, then the LORD will hear you and answer ‘Here I am.’” You will notice that God does not address the people as god-like placing His identity on them as if they were in His place. Instead, it is a declaration of “Immanuel,” God with us, that is given. The LORD Himself will present Himself in their midst. He will answer their questions, their petitions and their pleas. He will effect their healing, strengthen them in weakness and restore land promised to them. The caveat is “…if you fast in the way that is right which I have chosen.” Was God nullifying the former descriptions and prescriptions for fasting? Were they set aside now just as God had spoken against their sacrifices because their hearts and mind were not on God but on themselves? Was it the same with their fasts which they, or at least the leadership, offered to highlight their own righteousness instead of lifting up the righteousness of God? Had they become their own hindrance in seeing and hearing God’s word and work just as Isaiah had declared on that day saying “I am a man of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a people with unclean lips”? Yes, they said they were faithful, but they were far off from their words. They did not “walk the talk.” They did not abide in faith trusting in God with all things even before all things were revealed and given.

It reminds me of the words found in 2 Chronicles 7.14 when Solomon was directing the blessing of the first Temple. That which his father started, Solomon had now brought to fruition. In order for that place to be truly sacred and powerful, however, the people had to confront the truth about themselves and their relationship to God. It is in that verse we hear God say, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” I invite you to read the beginning verses of that chapter and remember what happened that day as the Temple was consecrated. You will see a familiar “vision.” God is consistent in His expectations and in His revelations. I suppose we should abide by them still and heed the lessons that they teach. They are the lessons which Jesus emulated and revealed in Himself. There can be no other way for the believer to understand the call to righteousness. As Jesus said, which I have already alluded to previously, “I AM: the Way, the Truth and the Life by which you can only approach and dwell in the midst of God.” God revealed Himself perfectly in Jesus the Christ. They were of one heart, one mind, one soul and one baptism. We are invited to share and dwell in that reality forever.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ. AMEN.