Contemplative Bible Reading

Isaiah 58:3 (New Living Translation)

‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’

In this verse, the people are crying to Jehovah for justification (we are good, don’t punish us). They cry that they have been very hard on themselves.

Does worshiping God mean we have to be hard on ourselves? Is worship supposed to be difficult? Is punishing ourselves somehow supposed to impress God.

I’m glad we don’t have this attitude today. ooops, perhaps we do. Perhaps we try to impress God by withholding things from ourselves. We’ll impress God with our hard work. How silly is all that?

God, please help me in my unbelief.