Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Isaiah+059
Chapter 59 (ESV)
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
REFLECTION:
- Silence – Read/Listen – Meditate – Pray – Contemplate
- As you read the passage aloud, replace “we” with “I”, and “our” with “my”. What might God be thinking as he hears you read this?
- What is the word or phrase that touches you today as you read and meditate on this passage? What is your emotion as you read this word or phrase?
- Now, make a list of sins – big and small – that you’ve committed in the past week. In prayer, go through your list item by item, admit to God that you should not have participated in such wrongdoing. Do this with a humble and repentant heart. Ask God to help you not to focus any longer on your sin, but to be free to focus and turn toward him.
- As you go through today, make a point to confess your sins to God. As you do this, be as specific as you can about your sins, acknowledging your desperation and futility in attempting to live apart from him.
PRAYER:
Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.
HYMN:
Lord, to You I Make Confession – youtu.be/UWKILhyFR6Y
