Lysa Terkeurst
God is continually having to teach His children that simply going through religious motions won’t ever add up to a heart of true devotion.
Isaiah begins by addressing the Israelites’ faulty motives for fasting.
Vs 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen?.....
- God exposes the shallow worship and empty rituals of just going through the motions
Vs 6 -7 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...to chlothe them.....
- We are to hunger after Him and do what pleases Him
- We are to spend ourselves (vs 10) on others
vs 11 The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
- God promises health and life to the soul
- This is a promise for those who do more than empty religious rituals. To have God's guidance, we need to seek God with sincere hearts and sincere actions
vs 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins adn will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings
- You can't build God's kingdom on a superficial foundation
Vs 13 If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way, and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of teh land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
- The Sabbath was another empty religious observance for the Jewish people of Isaiah’s day. God calls them to take a delight in the heart and in the purpose of the Sabbath – to honor Him, not doing your own ways.
- The Israelites possibly viewed both fasting and Sabbath keeping simply as duties to perform. They were seen as a source of obligation, not as an invitation to experience more of God. We see a sobering instance of this in Amos 8:4-6 as we read about those who were strict observers of festivals and the Sabbath. Instead of walking away changed, they would immediately go back to their cruel and wicked ways. It’s a stark reminder that empty rituals do not hold the power to change the human heart.
- The fulfillment of the Sabbath should be viewed in light of the finished work of Jesus. We keep the Sabbath when we set aside every day to honor Him, and by not doing your own ways as a means of justifying ourselves.
- Jesus fulfills the purpose and plan of the Sabbath for us. We can rest from our works.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[a] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Sabbath practices were only a shadow of the things fulfilled in Jesus.
Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
The rest we enter into as Christians is something to experience every day, not just one day a week – the rest of knowing we don’t have to work to save ourselves, but that our salvation was accomplished in Jesus
- When we keep the meaning of the Sabbath, not merely as an empty religious ritual, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD. God will bless us, and we shall delight, not only in the blessings, but in the LORD Himself. We know it is sure, because the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
First5:
So how do we keep the things God asks of us from becoming empty religious routines? I think part of it comes down to our approach — do we see God’s commands as a duty or as an opportunity for delight?
If we look at the Sabbath in this way, we realize that this holy day of rest isn’t merely a time to be observed; it’s a time to be preserved. It’s a subtle but important difference.
The observer remembers to rest. The preserver rests to remember — to remember that it’s all about God.
The observer remembers to rest and pause on the Sabbath day in order to follow a rule. The preserver does more than follow a rule. She follows God’s desire and embraces His purpose in the rest.
Sabbath is all about pausing and connecting with God without the distracting chaos of our everyday routines. For one day a week, we step out of the fray and let God direct our day according to His rhythm, not ours.
God’s rhythm of the Sabbath preserves a space in us to hear His voice. It allows us to see the places where we’re going our own way and the areas where we’re more self-pleasing than God-pleasing. Honoring the Sabbath also makes room for delight.
The same verb form for “delight” that we find in Isaiah 58:13 appears in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." It’s important to note that this isn’t about subtle acts of manipulation. We aren’t giving God shallow praise in hopes of getting what we want. We are purposefully setting aside time to delight in Him. And when we do this from a sincere heart, we will find our will being conformed to His will.
Yes. This is where transformation begins. Not in simply going through the motions, but in seeking to obey God from a heart of devotion. This is where true connection happens. Not in keeping the Sabbath or our checklists out of obligation, but in seeing them as an invitation — to know and experience more of our good and gracious God.
Religious activity can fill our time but will never satisfy our soul. We were made for a relationship with God.