Spending Ourselves

Isaiah 58 says so much to me. It begins with a bold statement, "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise you voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their rebellion." It doesn't speaks softly and carefully as not to offend anyone, no, it says "SHOUT IT" Hold nothing back. Be honest.

These verses are hard verses for the Church, and if I'm being totally honest with myself, they are hard for me too. In this chapter the church is asking God why their prayers are not being answered. How many times have we come before God and cried out,"God where are you?", yet we never ask ourselves, "what have I done to cause Your Presence to pull back from me?"

Verses 1-5 reek of lukewarmness. The church is putting on a show; their hearts are selfish and full of themselves. "What can You do for me, God?" or "what do I get out of this walk with you?" But God shows us in this chapter of Isaiah how wrong that attitude is and what He truly expects of us in verses 6-14.

He desires sacrifice to "loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke to set the oppressed free", to feed the hungry, give clothes to the poor and needy; those things must cost us something. Verse 10 says, "and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness..." Being a "light" in this world has nothing to do with going to church and being a "good" Christian. It's about spending ourselves, being uncomfortable ourselves to provide comfort to someone else,travailing in prayer and feeling the pain to provide someone else peace, and laying ourselves down for the will of God. My prayer for myself and for my church is that we don't grow comfortable. Let us lay it down daily and spend ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom, then and only then will we be a light breaking through the darkness.