19th July 2023

True renewal

You wearied yourself by such going about, but you would not say ‘it is hopeless.’ You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.
Isaiah 57:10 (NIV)

I felt drawn to this verse in Isaiah. We tend to run about in our world with many goals, and those things that we deem good deeds. Our day is a rush with activities and things we need to do, or so we think. I can see many things that need to be done and some are cosmetic and some responsibilities. So often we go about as if to say the world hinges on what we can do, as if only we had the power and ability to fix it. Much of what we do, can be what we call busy work, that soon enough just needs to be done again. It is not so much the doing of things here in this verse that I see as the problem, but the relying on ourselves and our talents or powers to get it done. This verse is talking to those who feel they do not need the help of God in their lives. They can do it themselves; they can pick themselves up, find the strength, solve the problem; they can go it alone.

Much of what the world throws our way speaks of what we should believe. It judges us if we do not go along with their way of thinking, and in doing so declares its own righteousness. There has been so much unfairness in the world, such wickedness, and wrongs, that the want to make things right, has in some cases, allowed wrong thinking, and harmful ways to exist as a right; as something good. We declare what God says is wrong and harmful, as righteous and good. I do not want to see anyone harmed; I want all to be treated fairly. I cry for those abused in the world-past and present. I am sorry that others had been wronged and I wish I could have prevented it. I do not have such powers. Mankind, generation after generation, has done things wrong and declared themselves fully justified in doing so.

Nothing we do under the sun, or in the darkness for that matter, will be unseen by God. He sees, he said in verses 18-19, our harmful ways and he will heal us, guide us, and restore those who turn to him and listen to his voice. We may have good intentions, but only God knows what we need, what is beneficial, and healthy in our lives. We need not rely on our own righteousness, for we have none, but we need to rely on the right-ness, the righteousness of God. We need to partner with him in what he is doing. We need to fight for what is right, we need to do right ourselves and admit that we have been very wrong in the way we treat others, or have allowed those wrongs to exist by our inactions. We have fought wars in the name of freedom, but we have failed to trust in the one who can give us freedom from sin and wrongs.

In all our false righteousness, God has not given up on us. I will heal them God has said, I will continue to love them and guide them. I will be their righteousness, I will remove their sin, I will bring them the need for change and tell them how to make it. As we partner with God, as we turn to him and say, ‘I am hopeless’, God will be our hope. God will be our righteousness, God will be our strength, God will heal this world. I look forward to that day.

Prayer
Come work within us, Lord! Be our righteousness, guide our hearts and minds, teach us your ways. We cannot go it alone. We need you every step in the day. We thank you for your loving ways! In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Study by Anne Gillam

About the writer:
Anne Gillam is a retired Pastor in Grace Communion International, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.

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