The Worship I Have Chosen?

The prophet Isaiah knew what it was like to live among those who gave the appearance of righteousness. They had all the externals right. Right worship. Right spiritual disciplines. Right book. One look at them and you would be convinced that they were the people of God fulfilling their religious duties. And yet, something was missing. Something tugged at the heart of Isaiah as he saw a righteous people of Israel spinning religion industriously with fervor and passion. It was God tugging at his heart. It was God who would speak to Isaiah and say to him that excited religious observance wasn’t the same thing as life-giving faith.

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 sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD? (Isaiah 58:5)

What’s wrong with being humble before the Lord? Shouldn’t we bow our heads “like a reed” before God? Isn’t this what is expected of us in obedient worship?

Isaiah writes that what the Lord is looking for is something radically different - something with “teeth” – a faith where one not only humbles oneself but a faith that transforms one into the very likeness of God.

Be like God? What is God like? Read the Hebrew Scriptures and page after page is replete with the narrative of a God who is liberating insignificant and enslaved people from bondage and promising them salvation, liberty, and hope – if only they submit to him AND become life-giving extensions of God’s ministry of liberation. Read the New Testament and God takes the form of a son who gives everything – even his life – so that believers in him will have the life that really matters.

Isaiah quotes the voice of God he hears as to the kind of religious activity and worship observance that matters:

“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?
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; (Isaiah 58:6-8)

It’s the last part that struck me as I read this passage this past week. That as our hearts are transformed to resemble the heart of God, new light will shine in our world… and healing will quickly appear. I found that interesting. Not just that healing will appear, but that healing will appear quickly.

This has matched my experience as a pastor. It’s when we get past ourselves – our specific needs and wants and preferences - and become extensions of the mission of God ministering to the poor, the downcast, and the oppressed that we experience the greatest life – indeed the life God created and designed us to live. The most joy-filled people we know are those who serve others. They’re not usually too concerned with getting all the religious externals right in order to have the approval of their “righteous” friends.” Instead, they have simply offer themselves with open hands so that others might be cared for and have life. They simply want to “be” like the Father, possessing the very heart of God.

And that’s the call of Isaiah 58. In faith, allow the heart of God to beat inside of you as you leave behind the appearance of “church-ness” and dive deep into the reality of loving servant-hood. And healing will appear quickly! That’s a promise from God.