Don’t go your own way, go God’s better way
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:
What did I like about today’s passage?
I like the distinctiveness of God’s call to a way of thinking and life that we cannot achieve by ourselves. He promises nourishment, relationship, healing and restoration to thirsty, hurting people. After the judgement, it’s hope.
So what do people need to do for this? Some of it sounds a little vague – “Maintain justice and do what is right” (chapter 56 verse 1). Wasn’t not knowing or being able to do what is right the problem in the first place? How can God have such high expectations?
I don’t think that God left anyone to work this out by themselves. That’s the real point. By growing closer to God, including spending time keeping God’s Sabbath days, God’s ways, thoughts, values and power to put them into practice would become accessible, even though they are different from our own.
The way God addresses people, I notice high expectations. Injustice, oppression and hunger will not fix themselves. God demands that people who want to draw close to him, say through fasting, be mainly concerned and engaged with practical love and social justice.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
God’s kingdom plan is not to gather believers now simply to look forward to a better life in heaven. He does not call people to escape the world but to change it.
In order to do this, God offers cleansing, healing and empowerment to people who put him and his ways above themselves and their own ways. He dismisses people who do religious activities without self-sacrifice for the hungry and oppressed.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
How comfortable am I in what I call faith? If I have settled for simply claiming eternal security in exchange for a belief in the existence of God, I have missed God’s point entirely. In my head, I don’t think that is my life, but in my heart, I know I need to be closer to God and what he values, and more active in seeking his kingdom in practice.
One practical way to do that is being less distracted on a Sabbath day of rest with him. I do let work creep in there sometimes. Is there maybe a better way to fast sometimes too? It’s been a while since I fasted by giving away food, money or work rather than just not eating for a bit (and ending up cranky and quarrelsome.) I need to submit to God’s way here.
Who am I going to share this with?
Some of this, like when I might fast, needs to be private according to Jesus. Hopefully you won’t notice! But I’ll share some of what I might notice afterwards with family.