Today’s passage: Isaiah 59
Helpful thoughts:
- The Israelites are being rebuked for wanting to receive “positive” responses and judgments without truly pursuing justice. They were fine with decisions as long as it went the way they wanted…even if what they wanted was unjust.
- They were praying to God and expecting Him to act according to their crooked standards while rejecting His lordship.
- When unjust man strives for resolution in his own efforts and values, man will only find more injustice, more darkness, more gloom.
- Justice and righteousness would not come from mankind, so God brought it to us Himself, through the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Questions to consider:
- What is happening in the heart of people when God is the one at fault and we are the ones who determine how things should go? Does God err? Does He act unjustly? Can anyone truly find fault in Him?
- Whose ways gets the world into the messes we find ourselves dealing with? Whose ways are going to resolve these problems? Whose ways are going to make them worse? Whose ways are you trusting in?
- God the Son put on this armor (Verse 17) to fend off unrighteousness and to bring salvation. How does the Apostle Paul call us to do the same (Ephesians 6:10-20)?