Justice is what Love looks like in Public

We studied Isaiah 58 in church this week and the promises about justice have been rehearsing in my mind all weekend. Maybe it's just because I'm studying social and institutional injustices or because I now work with individuals who suffer unjustly and deeply on a daily basis, I'm not sure....but for whatever reason, these verses resonate deep in my soul.

The chapter starts out with religious people who have been practicing the discipline of fasting and are legitimately mad at God because He's not responding. And I've been here & I know these people and it can be frustrating when you feel that you're doing something to please God and He doesn't seem to care. But in Isaiah 58, God eventually responds to their fast saying that no matter how much they afflict their own souls, their voice is not heard in heaven because they seek personal gain and actually cause those around them to be oppressed in the midst of their attempts at spirituality. God doesn't like their fast. Instead, He says:

"Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
to let the oppressed go free,
and that you break every yoke?
Is it not the share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?"


This is justice. God is just and although He might choose to wait to bring about justice, maybe it's for the purpose of allowing us to take action for Him. Our discipline of fasting, or denying ourselves, should look like justice.

And the crazy thing is that the rest of the chapter in Isaiah is full of promises of how God will restore my soul if I choose His fast. God promises that my healing will spring forth speedily, that my righteousness will go before me, that He will guard me, and that He will hear me and be near to me. I will be like a well-watered garden.

And the truth is, justice is messy. It's not glamorous, but full of suffering. In order to loose the bonds of wickedness, you must be around the wicked. To undo heavy burdens, you must first feel their weight. And this is difficult to sign up for....