GOD DESIRES “TRUE HEART” FROM HIS “CHOSEN PEOPLE”

Let us continue to read Isaiah 58, and see, what more the LORD has to speak to His “Chosen People” and through them, to Christians today. We saw in the first three verses, yesterday, the sinful fasting, and the corrupt attitude of the Jews. Such an attitude is prevalent among, who call themselves as “Christians” – even today. The LORD’s displeasure of His “Chosen People” continues in verses four and five. Then, through verses six and eight, God reminds the “People of God” and even us, today, what kind of fasting, attitude and heart God our LORD is wanting from us.
– “4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?” – Isaiah 58:4-5

The above words of the Living God are like burning fire, destroying all our pretence, and our piety, and its glaring hypocrisy – both the people of Judah, the one who take such immense pride in being the “only” Chosen People. What a pity, even we are no less arrogant and boastful – saying we are the Chosen People, the Elect and the Called Out People – 1 Peter 2:9-10. Some nations seem to have the same myopic opinion about themselves, without any demonstrable display of the same faith, just like the Jews of Isaiah 58. Adam Clarke, writing in 1823, on the practice of slave trade has these pungent words, which sadly, did not have much effect, on the thick religious skins, that we have 
– “How can any nation pretend to fast or worship God at all, or dare to profess that they believe in the existence of such a Being, while they carry on the slave trade, and traffic in the souls, blood, and bodies of men! O ye most [criminal] of knaves, and worst of hypocrites, cast off at once the mask of your religion; and deepen not your endless perdition by professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, while ye continue in this traffic!” – Adam Clarke

What a pity, the empty religion we all seem to happily follow, satisfying our hearts, as though we are pious and blessed, unlike the “heathen” who are damned to hell. Oh the self-aggrandising manner of our faith, and the practice of it; yet, so blind to our reality, and deaf to what the very LORD seems to so loudly shout at us and our religion, into our tone deaf ears – both the Jews and the “Gentile Christians.”

What the LORD wants and desires, from both the Jews and the Christians is, in the following words of our LORD, the Living and All Consuming God, the Creator of us all, and the entire creation.
– “6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.”* – Isaiah 58:6-8

Let us re-read the above three verses. It doesn’t need any special interpretation. They are crystal clear. The meaning, the words, and the intention of God are, clear as the day. What was written close to three thousand years ago, is still relevant to us – because we are just like the Jews of the old – proud, arrogant, abusive and oppressive. The faith that God wants from us, has to be seen in our words and deeds – James 2:1-26. Faith and works is, no New Testament idea. It is at the very core of YAHWEH’s heart, and is unambiguously spoken about, in the Old Testament – sadly we are so blind to the word of our LORD – Micah 6:8; Deuteronomy 10:12-22.

May the LORD help us to be His, true and obedient servants, all our lives, reflecting His glory, and living as He so desires from us. Even so the LORD help us.