“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 58:8
See what happens when God’s people get a fresh vision for justice:
“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily” (58:8). When? When you “share your bread with the hungry” (58:7).
“Then… your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard” (58:8). When? When you “bring the homeless poor into your house” (58:7).
“Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am’” (58:9). When? When “you see the naked, to cover him” (58:7).
That was God’s word through the prophet Isaiah to His people 700 years before Jesus was born. Do you think this speaks to evangelical Christians in the U.K. today? God sees our worship, our Bible study, our prayer and maybe even some fasting. But He is asking what we are doing about the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the stranger.
Do we care about people in desperate need?
A young man in his twenties decided to leave the church. Someone asked him: Why did you reject Christianity?
This was his answer: “It just seemed too selfish to be true.” The Christians he had seen were interested only in themselves. Their church was about meeting the needs of its own members. The God they believed in seemed to exist to make them healthy, wealthy, comfortable and happy. But the plight of others wasn’t even on their radar.
That is what Isaiah is talking about here—the church, ignoring justice.
Do you care about people in desperate need? How are you showing it?
