The Prophet Isaiah made a strong statement when he said, “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”[Is. 1:17 – NLT]
Actually, he makes five statements in this verse, the first of which leads into the other four. Look at the verse once again... “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” In other words, “learning to do good” should naturally lead us into (1) seeking justice, (2) helping the oppressed, (3) defending the cause of orphans, and (4) fighting for the rights of widows.
Here’s some insight into the backstory of this text—earlier in the chapter, Isaiah reminds Judah (the Southern Kingdom) of the plight of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He said they were destroyed because of their wickedness and defiance of God’s standards. Isaiah then said that Judah was just like those cities because of its extreme unfaithfulness to God.
In an effort to appease God, they continued to offer sacrifices, and God’s response was... “I’m sick of it, and I’ll not receive your sacrifices nor listen to your prayers because nothing you do is sincere.”
Thankfully there was a solution to the problem which is stated in verse 16 “Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.”
Now trust me, this was—and still is—critical instruction in order to be in right standing with God, but then what? Is that all there is to it? Believe me, there’s definitely more... which takes us to verse 17, where once again he says: “Learn to do good...” and that’s where I’d like to stay for a few minutes.
Learn to do good... here’s a question: would this imply that it’s not a given, or a natural impulse for us, to do good? It’s almost as if they had forgotten God’s expectations and were having to re-learn how they were to live a godly life.
In fact, Paul writes in Romans 7:18-19
“18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”
I sat between two friends; we ate our meal and had great conversation. When it was time to receive our check, one said to me, “I’ve got yours,” to which the other friend said, “Too late, I’ve already got it.”
Here I was, sitting right in the middle of overwhelming goodness. Just a couple of days earlier, I had received a text from a friend saying, “When will you be coming by? I have something for you.” To my utter surprise, he handed me a brand-new “pocket device” [an AI tool that has just recently been put on the market].
What a blessing it is to be the recipient of such kindness. However, the motivation behind such a giving spirit doesn’t come naturally, no matter what you may think. No, these are examples of what the scripture describes as “learning to do good.”
Before I close, let me share one more example... earlier in the day I had conducted a funeral. That evening, I received a very kind text expressing gratitude for my services, as well as some complimentary words concerning the way I had conducted the ceremony. There again, these are things that don’t necessarily come naturally to us but are learned over time.
In our “hurry up” society, it seems that we’ve grown weary of having to learn anything, but my prayer is that the Lord would instill within each of us a desire to learn such a thing as “to do good” and then put what we’ve learned into action.
May the Lord bless you my friend and have a wonderful day!