Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Oct 26 2019 - Isaiah 58 – True fasting

There is something deeply repugnant about a show of religious devotion coming from one whose life is marked by cruelty and injustice. Even those who do not profess to believe in God find such lives utterly offensive and demanding of judgment – witness the outrage over the abuse of children and young people by clergy of various denominations and the abuses that have been perpetrated in boarding schools professing a Christian ethos.

In this chapter, Isaiah describes some of God's people who seem diligent in seeking God's face. They devote themselves to fasting in the belief that this will convince God of the seriousness of their devotion and compel him to hear their prayers. When God does not respond, they complain like children who cannot get what they want:

“Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?” (v.3)

Their complaint may come from genuine perplexity on their part – and that's what makes it all the more awful. At the very same time as they are fasting to try to win God's favour they are exploiting and abusing their workers. Those whose lives are marked by such acts of injustice and oppression cannot expect their prayers to be heard by God (vv. 3-4).

Fasting should be an act of self-denial, a demonstration that our relationship with God is more important to us than food and drink, more important to us than all those things that are considered valuable by the world around us. The behaviour of those described in these verses shows that they are utterly self-centred and intent only upon securing for themselves the good things they desire – even at the expense of others. God tells them that the fasting he requires is:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? …
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: here am I. (vv. 6-8)

We live in a world in which injustice, oppression and self-seeking ambition which rides roughshod over all opposition are commonplace. But God's purpose is to establish his kingdom in this world through the work of his Suffering Servant – to heal this world's hurts. Jesus modelled the human life that God desires, a life devoted to healing the sick, feeding the hungry, having compassion on the poor and declaring God's judgment upon oppressive government and on rigid and compassionless religion. Jesus calls us to follow him and, in the words of verses 9-10, to:

… do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
… spend yourselves on 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.

Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) shows us that God is looking for a people whose lives have been transformed by his Spirit and made like the beautiful life of his Son. Such people, like their Master, will be the light of the world and will be owned by God.

Living God, keep us from that form of idolatry in which we profess devotion to you while our lives display a devotion to ourselves. By your Spirit, make our lives more like that of our Saviour and enable us to be living witnesses to the grace, beauty and power of your kingdom. 

Oct 26 2020 - James 4:1-17 – God willing

James has strong criticism for those who think that they are masters of their own lives: those who speak confidently of what they will do tomorrow or at some point in the future; those who build great schemes for their own enrichment and boast of what they will do (James 4:13-16). You do not know, he reminds us, what tomorrow will bring. You do not even know whether your life will be spared to do the things you planned.

Several years ago I travelled to Madagascar to join the celebrations of the 175th anniversary of the Malagasy Bible and to deliver a paper at an International Symposium on Bible and Mission. Every aspect of my journey was planned carefully. But things did not go to plan. My flight from Heathrow was first delayed and then diverted due to industrial action by flight controllers in France. I landed in Johannesburg at much the same time as my connecting flight was taking off for Antananarivo – a once-a-day flight. I had to stay overnight in Johannesburg airport and take the flight to Antananarivo on the following day, and the delivery of my paper had to be rescheduled. I was reminded that no matter how well we make our plans, they can easily be disrupted by forces beyond our control.

James urges us to develop a humble spirit of dependency. We need to realise that our lives are not in our own hands but in the hands of God. “Man proposes, but God disposes” as the old saying goes. As those who know God as our heavenly Father we should be glad to rest our lives in his care, whether our days go according to (our) plan or whether they do not.

For a number of years I moved in circles where every mention of future plans was suffixed with the words “God willing”, and where invitations to forthcoming events always bore the subscript “D V” – confusing to those who’s Latin had become a little rusty. No doubt such formularies can be helpful, but equally they can become mere form. James calls us to develop a humble spirit and to recognise that we are utterly dependent upon God for what each new moment will bring. We must make our plans or we will accomplish nothing, but we need also to recognise with thankfulness the overruling providence of God.

And this spirit of humble dependency is to mark every aspect of our lives. It should find expression in a life marked by continual prayer, thanking God for the abundance of good things he showers upon us and asking his continued blessing upon ourselves and upon those whose needs he has laid upon our hearts (4:2-3). A sense of dependence drives us continually to seek help from our Heavenly Father and our victorious Saviour when temptation threatens or when the devil fills our hearts with doubts and fears (4:7-8). It drives us to seek God’s presence and the power of his Spirit. A humble spirit makes us slow to judge others or to speak unkindly of the things they have done – we are all too aware of our own failings (4:11-12).

A humble and quiet spirit is foundational to the life of faith – to the life that is pleasing to God (4:6).

Heavenly Father, you have said that you oppose the proud but give grace to the humble. We readily confess the daily need of you grace. Give us a right view of ourselves that we may recognise that we are dependent children. And give us a right view of others, equally in need of your grace and therefore of our compassion. Keep us from haughty and judgmental thoughts and words this day. Help us to love our brothers and sisters and to encourage one another to live the life that pleases you by your grace and power.

Peter Misselbrook