You serve your own interest
Isaiah 58:1-4 NRSV
Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.
Matthew 6:16-18 NRSV
And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
What is the primary “sin” God is bringing to Israel’s attention in Isaiah 58? God acknowledges that they are “seeking” Him, that they delight to “draw near” to Him. So, in their trouble, they ask God: “Why do we fast and you do not see? Why do we humble ourselves and you do not notice?” In other words, “Why aren’t you blessing us for the things we are doing?”
The primary “sin” God is bringing to Israel’s attention is a “heart” problem: their self-centeredness and insincerity. God’s reply is blunt: “You serve your own interest.” At times, we may be tempted to think, “I try to live right and do good, yet bad things keep happening to me.” Perhaps on the job or even at church, we grumble, “I’m the one who did all the work setting, and yet she (or he) gets the credit.” At such times we need to hear God’s words through Isaiah: Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.
It is always right to do right and always good to do good. But anything done from the wrong motive – with the wrong attitude and heart – is meaningless. Jesus warned in John 6 that any good work we do, or any spiritual discipline we practice, should not be for the attention of other people but for the pleasing of God alone.
What Does the Lord Require?[1]
Albert F. Bayly
What does the Lord require for praise and offering?
What sacrifice, desire, or tribute did you bring?
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
Rulers of earth, give ear! Should you not justice show?
Will God your pleading hear, while crime and cruelty grow?
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
Still down the ages ring the prophet’s stern commands.
To merchant, worker, king he brings God’s high demands.
Do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God.
How shall my soul fulfill God’s law so hard and high?
Let Christ endue our will with grace to fortify.
Then justly, in mercy, we’ll humbly walk with God.
What Does the Lord Require?
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
[1] Copyright 1969 by Hope Publishing Company
