19.3 Your Fast Be A Promotion Of Justice

(Isaiah 58: 1-12)

The Lord says, “Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins! They worship me every day, claiming that they are eager to know my ways and obey my laws. They say they want me to give them just laws and that they take pleasure in worshiping me.”

The people ask, “Why should we fast if the Lord never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?”

The Lord says to them, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers. Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers? When you fast, you make yourselves suffer; you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on. Is that what you call fasting? Do you think I will be pleased with that?

“The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

“Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.

“If you put and end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry. Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses.”

19.2 Fast By Returning To God

(Joel 2:11-17)

The Lord thunders commands to his army.
The troops that obey him are many and mighty.
How terrible is the day of the Lord!
Who will survive it?

“But even now,” says the Lord,
“repent sincerely and return to me
with fasting and weeping and mourning.
Let your broken heart show your sorrow;
tearing your clothes is not enough.”

Come back to the Lord your God.
He is kind and full of mercy;
he is patient and keeps his promise;
he is always ready to forgive and not punish.
Perhaps the Lord your God will change his mind
and bless you with abundant corps.
Then you can offer him grain and wine.
Blow the trumpet on Mount Zion;
give orders for a fast and call an assembly!
Gather the people together;
prepare them for a sacred meeting;
bring the old people;
gather the children and the babies too.
Even newly married couples must leave their homes
and come.
The priests, serving the Lord between the altar
and the entrance of the Temple,
must weep and pray:
“Have pity on your people, Lord.
Do not let other nations despise us and mock us
by saying, ‘Where is your God?’”

19.1 Proclaim A Fast

(Joel 1:13-20)

Put on sackcloth and weep,
you priests who serve at the altar!
Go into the Temple and mourn all night!
There is no grain or wine to offer your God.
Give orders for a fast; call an assembly!
Gather the leaders and all the people of Judah
into the Temple of the Lord your God
and cry out to him!
The day of the Lord is near,
the day when the Almighty brings destruction.
What terror that will bring!
We look on helpless as our crops are destroyed.
There is no joy in the Temple of our God.
The seeds die in the dry earth.
There is no grain to be stored,
and so the empty granaries are in ruins.
The cattle are bellowing in distress
because there is no pasture for them;
the flocks of sheep also suffer.
I cry out to you, Lord,
because the pastures and trees are dried up,
as though a fire had burned them.
Even the wild animals cry out to you
because the streams have become dry.

18.5 The Lord Is Faithful Forever

(Psalm 89:1-18)

O Lord, I will always sing of your constant love;
I will proclaim your faithfulness forever.
I know that your love will last for all time,
that your faithfulness is as permanent as the sky.
You said, “I have made a covenant with the man
I chose;
I have promised my servant David,
‘A descendant of yours will always be king;
I will preserve your dynasty forever.’”

The heavens sing of the wonderful things you do;
they sing of your faithfulness, Lord.
No one in heaven is like you, Lord;
none of the heavenly beings is your equal.
You are respected in the council of the holy ones;
they all stand in awe of you.

Lord God Almighty, none is as mighty as you;
in all things you are faithful, O Lord.
You rule over the powerful sea;
you calm its angry waves.
You crushed the monster Rahab and killed it;
with your mighty strength you defeated
your enemies.
Heaven is yours, the earth also;
you made the world and everything in it.
You created the north and the south;
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing to you
for joy.
How powerful you are!
How great is your strength!
Your kingdom is founded on righteousness and
Justice;
love and faithfulness are shown in all you do.

How happy are the people who worship you
with songs;
who live in the light of you kindness!
Because of you they rejoice all day long,
and they praise you for your goodness.
You give us great victories;
in your love you make us triumphant.
You, O Lord, chose our protector;
you, the Holy God of Israel, gave us our king.

18.4 I Will Make An Eternal Covenant

(Jeremiah 32:40-41)

I will make an eternal covenant with them. I will never stop doing good things for them, and I will make them fear me with all their heart, so that they will never turn away from me. I will take pleasure in doing good things for them, and I will establish them permanently in this land.

18.3 God’s Love Will Never End

(Isaiah 54:9-10)

“In the time of Noah I promised
never again to flood the earth.
Now I promise not to be angry with you again;
I will not reprimand or punish you.
The mountains and hills may crumble,
but my love for you will never end;
I will keep forever my promise of peace.”
So says the Lord who loves you.

18.2 God Is The Faithful One. Therefore, Observe The Commandments

(Deuteronomy 7:6-11)

Do this because you belong to the Lord your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. But the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt. Remember that the Lord your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him. Now then, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.

18.1 God Remembers His Covenant

(Exodus 6:1-8)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you are going to see what I will do to the king. I will force him to let my people go. In fact, I will force him to drive them out of this land.”

God spoke to Moses and said, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Almighty God, but I did not make myself known to them by my holy name, the Lord. I also made my covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they had lived as foreigners. Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant. So tell the Israelites that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord; I will rescue you and set you free from your slavery to the Egyptians. I will raise my mighty arm to bring terrible punishment upon them, and I will save you. I will make you my own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God when I set you free from slavery in Egypt. I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the LORD.’”

17.14 Prayer of Innocent

(Psalm 17)

Listen, O LORD, to my plea for justice;
pay attention to my cry for help!
Listen to my honest prayer.
You will judge in my favor,
because you know what is right.
You know my heart.
You have come to me at night;
you have examined me completely
and found no evil desire in me.
I speak no evil, as others do;
I have obeyed your command
and have not followed paths of violence.
I have always walked in your way
and have never strayed from it.

I pray to you, O God, because you answer me;
so turn to me and listen to my words.
Reveal your wonderful love and save me;
at your side I am safe from my enemies.

Protect me as you would your very eyes;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the attacks of the wicked.

Deadly enemies surround me;
they have no pity and speak proudly.
They are around me now, wherever I turn,
watching for a chance to pull me down.
They are like lions, waiting for me,
wanting to tear me to pieces.

Come, LORD! Oppose my enemies and defeat them!
Save me from the wicked by your sword;
save me from those who in this life have all they want.
Punish them with the sufferings you have stored up
for them;
may there be enough for their children
and some left over for their children’s children!

But I will see you, because I have done no wrong;
and when I awake, your presence will fill me with joy.

17.13 The Wicked Man Cannot Survive

(Job 15:20-29)

A wicked man who oppresses others
will be in torment as long as he lives.
Voices of terror will scream in his ears,
and robbers attack when he thinks he is safe.
He has no hope of escaping from darkness,
for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill him,
and vultures are waiting to eat his corpse.
He knows his future is dark;
disaster like a powerful king,
is waiting to attack him.

That is the fate of a man
who shakes his fist at God
and defies the Almighty.
That man is proud and rebellious,
he stubbornly holds up his shield
and rushes to fight against God.

That is the man who captured cities
and seized houses whose owners had fled,
but war will destroy those cities and houses.
He will not remain rich for long;
nothing he owns will last.
Even his shadow will vanish.

17.2 The Unjust Are Destroyed by God

(Job 12:16.21)

God is strong and always victorious;
both deceived and deceiver are in his power.
He takes away the wisdom of rulers
and makes leaders act like fools.
He dethrones kings and makes them prisoners;
he humbles priests and men of power.
He silences men who are trusted,
and takes the wisdom of old men away.
He disgraces those in power
and puts an end to the strength of rulers.

17.1 God Is Almighty

(Job 9:3-10)

How can anyone argue with God?
He can ask a thousand questions
that no one could ever answer.
God is so wise and powerful;
no man can stand up against him.
Without waning he moves mountains
and in anger he destroys them.
God sends earthquakes and shakes the ground;
he rocks the pillars that support the earth.
He can keep the sun from rising,
and the stars from shining at night.
No one helped God spread out the heavens
or trample the sea monster’s back.
God hung the stars in the sky- the Dipper,
Orion, the Pleiades, and the stars of the south.
We cannot understand the great things he does,
and to his miracles there is no end.

16.4 Confidence in God

(Psalm 4)

Answer me when I pray, O God, my defender!
When I was in trouble, you helped me.
Be kind to me now and hear my prayer.

How long will you people insult me?
How long will you love what is worthless
and go after what is false?

Remember that the LORD has chosen
the righteous for his own,
and he hears me when I call to him.

Tremble with fear and stop sinning;
think deeply about this,
when you lie in silence on your beds.
Offer the right sacrifices to the LORD,
And put your trust in him.

There are many who pray:
“Give us more blessings, O LORD.
Look on us with kindness!”
But the joy that you have given me
is more than they will ever have
with all their grain and wine.

When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace;
you alone, O LORD, keep me perfectly safe.