Set Sometime Aside Today

Isaiah 58:9-14

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, ¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 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. ¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. 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, ¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

As I read this passage from Isaiah I couldn’t help thinking that the message is much like a message one would hear in a psalm. This passage has a warning tone, and at the same time it has a comforting tone as well. It is a warning to those who do not keep the Sabbath holy, and it is a comfort to those who do keep the Sabbath holy.

Reading this passage was a comfort to me, because as I thought about it, I realized that I do in fact, keep the Sabbath holy. I go to church every week, and I devote that day to God. As I thought about it more, I asked myself why. It is true that I have been brought up to go to church every Sunday, but I have never objected to this. My teenage angst has never rebelled against going to church, and on the Sundays that I miss church I get this empty feeling. I miss having the reminder that God is there watching over me in my life.

Isaiah said that God will punish those who do not keep the Sabbath holy, and God will reward those who do keep the Sabbath holy. The way I see it, keeping the Sabbath holy is a double-winner. We receive the comfort of God in our lives and we “will find our joy in the Lord”. To not keep the Sabbath holy is a double-loser. We miss God in our lives, and we will not find our joy in the Lord. If we embrace the Lord we surely will find the greatest of joys! –Brendan Pasley

Prayer – Lord, I will set sometime aside today to meditate on your loving presence in my life.