Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 57-59.

Today’s passage begins with Isaiah telling us that the righteous perish and the devout are taken away from us so that they might be spared from evil.  There is some comfort to be taken from that when our loved ones die what seems to be an untimely death, but the context suggests that there is more to it than that.  The chapter break from chapter 56 to chapter 57 leads us to miss that Isaiah says this about the righteous right after telling us about leaders who turn to their own way and seek their own gain while saying “Tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.”  Then Isaiah says that they do not take understand that the righteous perish in that situation in order to be spared from evil.  Isaiah tells us that not only do they pay no heed to this warning sign, but when they see the righteous die, they mock God.  They spend their time pursuing lust, worshiping idols which promise to satiate their lust.  Then offering the children which result from their behavior to those same idols.  All so that they can continue pursuing those lustful activities.

Isaiah goes on to tell us that God has seen our wicked ways, yet He will heal us.  He has seen our sinful greed and lust and punished us for it, trying to get us to change our ways.  We fast and pray, asking God to come near.  Yet while we fast and pray we continue to exploit others and do as we please.  Instead of sharing our food with the hungry or offering shelter to the poor, we use our wealth to please ourselves.  If instead of spending our resources on ourselves with pride we adopt a contrite and lowly spirit, God will heal us.  He will place His Spirit upon us and it will not depart from us.  He will put His words in our mouth and give us peace.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.