The Lord will guide you

1"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. 3Why have we fasted, they say, and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice? In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord? 6 Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought. And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. 13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 58 NKJ)

There is a lot said in these verses. My devotional on Thursday brought me to verse 11, which says "The Lord will guide you continually," but of course I had to read the entire chapter and then re-read it. It is stimulating reading.

The Lord says we should not fast just to get it done, not just go through the motions, because nothing worthwhile is being accomplished. This is what the Sadducees and Pharisees did in Jesus' time. They added to or subtracted from God's ordinances and made them law. It was no longer what God said, but what they said that counted. The same happens today. God's law has become unimportant, irrelevant. Individuals believe He didn't really mean what He says in His word, or worse yet that He doesn't exist, that they know what's what, what is more correct. Poppycock!

God tells us the right way and the wrong way, yet we pass right over it. Our perceptions are correct and we behave based on them. We do not see God's rules, plans for us. We miss the mark.

"The Lord will guide you continually" -- Yes He will. But to do so, we have to be in His word, studying, walking, honoring. If we walk alone, God will not provide the guidance we so desperately need.