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The Scriptorium

Devotion and Life

Empty lives flow from empty devotions.

The Way of Restoration: Isaiah 58 (3)

Pray Psalm 72.12-15.

For He will deliver the needy when he cries,
The poor also, and him who has no helper.
He will spare the poor and needy,
And will save the souls of the needy.
He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
And precious shall be their blood in His sight.
And He shall live;
And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him;
Prayer also will be made for Him continually,
Anddaily He shall be praised.

Read Isaiah 58.6-9.

Reflect.
1. How can you see that our spiritual disciplines are not to be considered as ends in themselves?

2. Why are spiritual disciplines – like fasting – so very important?

Meditate.
The focus of these verses is fasting, because fasting was practiced by many of God’s people in Isaiah’s day. But fasting here is being used to stand for all spiritual practices – prayers, offerings, and so forth – such as have been mentioned earlier in this chapter.

The focus here is probably on the leaders of God’s people. They were treating their spiritual lives as ends in themselves. For them, it was enough that they should have prayed, or made their offering, or fasted. God should have honored those works as sufficient to send His blessings.

But these spiritual exercises were having no impact on their lives, as we see from verses 1-5. They were not fitting these leaders to love their neighbors or to shepherd the Lord’s flock as they should have. 

God rejects their devotions, telling them that spiritual disciplines, rightly practiced, lead to sharing, burden-bearing, compassion, and other forms of good works (vv. 6, 7). The purpose of spiritual disciplines like fasting is to shape the inner person in God-likeness, so that the outer person of words and deeds will express the love and glory of the Lord. That simply was not happening, and so all those rigorous disciplines were all for naught.

But God does not reject disciplines per se. He promises that, when they are rightly done, not only will they issue in love for our neighbors, but God will show His Presence, favor, and healing power to and through us, and He will readily respond to our every cry for help (vv. 8, 9). Because He is ever ready to glorify Himself through His people, when their hearts are rightly focused and daily exercised for loving Him and their neighbors.

Prepare.
1. How would you describe your current practice of spiritual disciplines? Are they fitting you to love God and your neighbor?

2. Why do we need to practice spiritual disciplines? Which are the most important disciplines?

3. How can we tell when our practice of disciplines is beginning to be for naught? What should we do then?

Do you see, dearly beloved, what true fasting really is? Let us perform this kind and not entertain the facile notion held by many that the essence of fasting lies in going without food till evening. This is not the end in view, but that we should demonstrate, along with abstinence from food, abstinence also from whatever is harmful, and should give close attention to spiritual duties. The person fasting ought to be reserved, peaceful, meek, humble, indifferent to the esteem of this world. John Chrysostom (344-407 AD), Homilies on Genesis 8.15

O Lord, help me to improve all my spiritual disciplines, so that…

Pray Psalm 72.

As you pray this psalm of the Kingdom, pay attention to the close connection between devotion and life. Ask the Lord to empower your times of prayer for Kingdom living each day.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 72.7-14 (Martyrdom: Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed)
Let righteousness abundant be where Jesus’ reign endures; 
Let peace increase from sea to sea ‘til moonlight shall be no more. 

And let the Righteous rule the earth, and let His foes bow low; 
Let nations praise His matchless worth, and all His bidding do. 

The Lord the needy rescues when he cries to Him for grace; 
All they who suffer violence find mercy before His face.

T. M. Moore

If you value Scriptorium as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button  at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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