WEDNESDAY

Isaiah 58

During the years that Charles Teel Jr. taught on the La Sierra campus of Loma Linda University (which later became La Sierra University), he used to share a way of thinking about how we live out our relationship with God by diagramming it in terms of three movements:

(1) God/me, which describes our personal relationship with God.

(2) God/me/others, which describes how my relationship with God manifests itself in my relationships with those around me.

(3) God/me/others/structures, which describes how my faith not only guides my personal walk with God and shapes my relationships with those around me, but also plays out in the social structure I help to build and/or support.

Accordingly, our spiritual lives are not only about our personal devotional lives and ways we interact with the people we come in contact with, but also about how we do business and take part in the community and social structures that give shape to our lives. That includes not only supporting and taking part in helpful and positive things, but also taking a stand against injustice and that which exploits or diminishes others. This is what Isaiah is addressing in today’s passage, as he reminds us that spiritual life is not something that is detached from the rest of life, but rather something that transforms how we approach all aspects of our lives in ways that reflect God’s character. While Adventists have always been strong supporters of the separation of church and state, they have also been immersed in causes that care for the needs of the most vulnerable among us. As you read today’s Scripture passage, here are some questions for reflection:

• How do you hear Isaiah inviting us into a way of living that sees religious devotion as inseparable from caring for the needs of the oppressed and vulnerable?

• How does he describe the lives of those who understand and live out the realization that personal spiritual life always plays out in how we interact with others?

• What new insights into the Sabbath do you find here as you see how the meaning of the Sabbath and the delight it expresses is woven in with the flow of this chapter?

• What do you identify with the most in this passage? What makes you the most uncomfortable? Why?

Take a few moments to spend time in prayer, sharing what is on your heart as you read and reflect on this passage and being attentive to what you sense God most wants you to see.