Inclusion
Day 338, Tuesday, July 15
Isaiah Chapters 56 – 57
Despite its political overtones, the best word to describe the beginning of chapter 56 is “inclusion.”
The chapter begins with a command: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.”
Isaiah then speaks the word of the Lord for two groups who historically have been excluded from the assembly of God’s people: foreigners and eunuchs.
In verse 3 he writes, “Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’ And let no eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree.’”
He then goes on to expand on both.
One could argue that his definition of “inclusion” is conditional. Inclusion, according to verse 4, is open to eunuchs “who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant.” Verse 6 opens up the temple worship to “foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, call who keep the Sabbath.”
Rather than exclusion or conditionality though this is simply a matter of choice. Some choices in life exclude other choices in life.
To be faced with a calendar conflict, for example, is not a case of “punishing” the person who chooses one option and not the other, but rather a self-selected consequence. God is giving people a choice to follow him or not, but the nature of following him excludes also following other gods.
When God says in verse 7 that his house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, he means it: it is truly open to all. However, those who do not choose to enter are not forced to.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Tuesday meditation

Job 6:11-23
“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?
“Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that stop flowing in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.
Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go off into the wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope. They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid. Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth, deliver me from the hand of the enemy, rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?

Prayer focus
God, give us the courage to face decisions and to choose you.