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Bible study · Isaiah 58:1-14

Isaiah 58: The fast that I have chosen

Read Isaiah 58:1-14 before you meet.

In a few lines

Isaiah 58 turns the fast around. The people ask, "Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?" (58:3). Later the chapter says, "satisfy the afflicted soul" (58:10), and in Hebrew those are the same two words; then "the LORD will … satisfy your soul" (58:11).

The verse to carry

“and the LORD will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.”

Isaiah 58:11

To talk about

  1. 1. The people in 58:2 "seek me daily" and "delight to draw near to God", yet they ask, "Why have we fasted … and you don’t see?" (58:3). Why do you think a person can seek God every day and still feel unseen?

  2. 2. 58:6-7 names the fast in plain deeds: bread for the hungry, a house for the poor, a covering for the naked, not hiding from your own flesh. What do you notice about where the chapter looks for the fast God has chosen?

  3. 3. "call the Sabbath a delight" (58:13), and "then you will delight yourself in the LORD" (58:14). What does delighting in the LORD look like for you?

Prayer requests