The Fast or the Furious

i have a tablet bible application called You Version where i am busy slowly working through the book of Isaiah [three chapters a day when i get to it] and today was Isaiah 58 which i absolutely love and i find this a helpful checklist for people who say they follow Jesus…

This is just part of it:

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ 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?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in 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.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

This is God speaking to Israel in the Old Testament but it is also God revealing what His heart leans towards… so i believe it all still applies very much today.

# Loose the chains of injustice

# Untie the cords of the yoke

# Set the oppressed free

# Break every yoke

# Share food with the hungry

# Provide the poor wanderer [slash refugee?] with shelter

# To clothe the naked

# To not turn away from your own flesh and blood

But it’s verse 10 that really gets me and it has been translated here as “spend yourselves for the poor” and also to “satisfy the needs of the oppressed”.