Isaiah 58:13-14 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
Not everything in the Bible is written to us, but it’s all written for us!
This text was written to Israel about their Sabbath command. Today, we are not under that same Mosaic law today.
Colossians 2:16-17 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
We gather on the Lord’s Day to worship because of the resurrection, not because we are still keeping the Mosaic Sabbath. The old shadow pointed forward to Christ, and Christ has come. But the principle behind this passage is timeless.
God has always set time aside for Himself, and how we treat that time reveals what we actually believe about Him. Every Christian who gives God any time at all needs to hear what Isaiah says about how we honor it.
Notice the order in Isaiah 58. Verse 13 lists everything you must do first.
*Turn your foot from the Sabbath.
*Do not do your own pleasure.
*Call it a delight.
*Honor Him.
*Do not do your own ways.
*Do not find your own pleasure.
* Do not speak your own words.
Then verse 14 gives the reward and then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD.
The action comes first and the delight comes second. God does not hand out delight to Christians who are still doing whatever they want and expecting to feel close to Him at the end of it. Delight is the fruit of surrender, and surrender is the price.
The rest of Scripture teaches the same order.
Psalm 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
Even here in Psalm 37, delight is a command before it is a feeling. You have to delight before you receive. And the verses around it tell you how to get there. Verse 3 says “Trust in the LORD, and do good.” Verse 5 says “Commit thy way unto the LORD.” Verse 7 says “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.” Every one of those is an action, and every one of them comes before delight.
Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
You have to taste before you can see He is good. Tasting is an action. It’s hard to know if a food is good from a distance!
James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”
You move first and God responds. He’s patiently waiting for you.
John 14:21 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
Delight Is Proportional to Investment
Delighting in our kids, our homes, our work, or our sports only comes when we pour ourselves into them. The parent who barely sees his kids does not delight in them. The homeowner who never invests in his home does not delight in it. The employee who coasts hates his job. The fair-weather fan does not know the joy the devoted fan knows.
The Lord is no different. Delight is proportional to investment.
The Christian who gives God one hour a week and calls it good does not delight in Him. The Christian who pours himself in, his day and his heart and his mouth and his ways and his pleasure, delights in the Lord.
Isaiah 58 shows us what pouring ourselves in actually looks like, and it does it by showing us three ways we hold ourselves back. Three ways we rob God of what we owe Him and rob ourselves of the delight He promised.
1. We Rob God With Our Feet
Isaiah 58:13 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath… not doing thine own ways…”
Our feet take us where our heart wants to go. If we spend the time we owe God chasing our own ways, running our own errands, and pursuing our own agenda, we have robbed Him of what He asked for.
This is not just about Sunday. This is about any time we set aside for God and then quietly take back.
A Christian says he will read his Bible in the morning and instead the feet walk to the phone. A Christian says he will pray but the feet keep walking through the to-do list. A Christian promises God the day and the feet spend it running his own kingdom. God asked for the day and got the leftovers.
The reason we do not delight in Him is because we never actually gave Him the time we said we would. We handed Him the schedule with our own ways written all over it.
How we rob ourselves: God cannot fill a schedule that is already full of our own pursuits. Delight requires you to stop, sit down, and be present with the One you say you love.
The fix is simple and hard. Turn your foot. Actually go where God asked you to go. Actually stay where He asked you to stay. Actually stop doing what He asked you to stop doing. The feet obey first, and the delight follows.
2. We Rob God With Our Heart
Isaiah 58:13 “…nor finding thine own pleasure…”
Our heart chases what we love. If we spend the time we owe God chasing our own pleasures, entertainments, and hobbies, we have robbed Him of the affection we promised Him.
This is not saying pleasure is wrong. God gives us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). This is about the pleasure that takes the place of the God who gave it.
A Christian says he loves God and yet his heart lights up more for a football game than a Bible passage. A Christian says God is first and yet his weekends are built around what he wants to enjoy, not what God wants him to worship. A Christian says the Word is sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:10) and yet he cannot sit through fifteen minutes of it without checking his phone.
The heart tells the truth about what we delight in. If our pleasure is always in what we do for ourselves, then we do not actually delight in God. We delight in ourselves and put God on the shelf until we need Him.
How we rob ourselves: A heart full of its own pleasures has no room for the pleasure of knowing God. The Christian who chases every entertainment the world offers will always find his soul empty because none of those pleasures were built to satisfy the soul. Only God fits that space.
The fix is to make God your pleasure, not just your duty. Pursue Him the way you pursue the things you actually enjoy. Read His Word with the same interest you give the news. Talk to Him with the same passion you give your hobbies. The heart that pursues God finds Him, and finding Him is the beginning of delight.
3. We Rob God With Our Mouth
Isaiah 58:13 “…nor speaking thine own words…”
Our mouth reveals what fills our mind. If we spend the time we owe God talking about ourselves, our problems, our opinions, and our plans, we have robbed Him of the conversation He asked for.
A Christian sits down to pray and spends ten minutes talking about himself and never once asks what God has to say. A Christian gathers with other believers and the conversation is about sports, politics, work, and drama with barely a mention of the Lord. A Christian claims to walk with God and yet his mouth is full of the same words the world speaks, said the same way the world says them.
Matthew 12:34 “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Whatever fills our heart comes out of our mouth. If we barely speak of God, He barely fills our heart. The Christian whose conversation is dominated by everything except the Lord has already told on himself. His time with God has been robbed by his own words, and his heart has been robbed of the very substance that would produce delight.
How we rob ourselves: A mouth full of self-talk crowds out the voice of God. Christians who never stop talking about their own concerns never hear the still small voice that would settle them. The mouth has to close for the ears to open.
The fix is to fill your mouth with the Word and with prayer that actually listens. Read Scripture out loud. Speak of God to your family, your friends, your coworkers. Sit still in prayer long enough to hear something back. The mouth that gives God its words receives His voice in return, and that voice is where delight lives.
The Reward on the Other Side
Isaiah 58:14 “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.”
That is God putting His own name behind the promise. Turn your feet, your heart, and your mouth toward Him, and He guarantees the delight, the high ground, and the inheritance.
The Christian who has never tasted delight in the Lord has usually never paid the price of surrender that produces it. We keep our feet, our hearts, and our mouths for ourselves, and then wonder why God feels distant.
He is not distant. We are just full of ourselves, and there is no room for Him.
Turn the feet, give your heart, and close the mouth long enough to hear. And the God who promised will do what He said.
For the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
