Can I Remain The Same? : David Nam
Isaiah 58:3-7 (ESV)
3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
There is hope for me, a sinner, because of what Jesus, my Christ, has done. Should this lead me to relief? Absolutely. Should this leave me the same? Absolutely not.
My consciousness bears witness against me by these two glaring questions for the former satisfies the orthodoxy, but the latter debunks my former assertion and accuses me of my greatest error: that I am all too well satisfied as to the way I am.
And the Lord abhors this outward confession but inner stillness:
“Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?” - Isaiah 58:5
And what are my fasts I wondered, so I listed them as such: bible reading, prayer, communion, service, and attendance. But I hear the questions once more, “Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?” (I rejoice that the Lord allows for discernment even yet within this foolish heart.) Of course not, I respond, for if these were fasts acceptable to the Lord, my heart would be compelled “…to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke… (Isaiah 58:6)” instead I live content the way I am.
Here is where I hear two subtle voices, though similar but with distinction: 1. One accuses me that I have sinned against the Lord, 2. The other also indicates that I have sinned but calls me to repentance. The former calls me to bear my full guilt, the latter tells me much the same but that He will bear my penalty so long as I turn to Him. Indeed where the Lord works, the serpent is near.
To this point, I am presented with these propositions: 1. I can continue to live the way I am, and retort “all is well for Jesus is my savior”, 2. The law does not exist so I bear no guilt, 3. I am guilty and I shall work out my salvation, or 4. I am guilty because I have sinned against God and man deserving full punishment but for the great love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I now confess that I die to my sins and live in the saving works of my Lord Jesus Christ. That daily the Holy Spirit would illuminate the very being of Jesus my savior in my soul so that I may bask in the love of the Father giving my God all the glory, honor, and praise.
The first three points do nothing to help me in my communion with God. Each claims that I am my own savior, each diminishes the works of sin, and each cheapens the grace of God. However, the forth brings me to bear full witness of my sins and to come to the seat of repentance. In that seat of repentance, by the grace of God, I am able to see that my cause is hopeless; can I be satisfied the way I am? No, and here I cry “Jesus, I need you now more than yesterday” for the full weight of sin leads me to my death.
On that day the great accuser [the serpent] will cry out guilty, but because of His Son [Jesus], my Father declares “rise my son, you are free.”
Can I remain the same?