Isaiah 58 • Lessons 126 and 127
If and Then Lab
See the fast the Lord chose, find a promise for a real situation, understand His invitation to call the Sabbath a delight, and shape a private journal page.
When we fast and keep the Sabbath in the Lord’s way, He blesses us and we come to delight in Him.
Search the scriptures
Two kinds of fast
Read Isaiah 58:3–7. The people complained that the Lord did not notice their fasting. He answered by describing two fasts. Decide where each phrase belongs.
“in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours”
Isaiah 58:3
“to loose the bands of wickedness”
Isaiah 58:6
“ye fast for strife and debate”
Isaiah 58:4
“to deal thy bread to the hungry”
Isaiah 58:7
“to bow down his head as a bulrush”
Isaiah 58:5
Decide where each phrase belongs. You can change any answer.
Find a promise
If we fast in the Lord’s way, then …
Read Isaiah 58:6–12. The five situations come from the lesson. Choose one or two and find a phrase that might motivate that person to fast and pray for God’s help. More than one phrase can fit.
A young man is stressed out about his schoolwork and his future.
Which phrase might help?
A young woman feels like she can never be clean again because of her sins.
Which phrase might help?
A young man is praying to know if the Church is true but is struggling to receive an answer.
Which phrase might help?
A young woman wants to help the poor.
Which phrase might help?
A young man faces a challenge he doesn’t know if he can overcome.
Which phrase might help?
First complete activity 1, then choose one or two situations.
Understand the words
Call the Sabbath a delight
Read Isaiah 58:13–14. Verse 13 holds the Lord’s invitations (“If thou …”) and verse 14 His promises (“Then shalt thou …”). The last two questions practise the doctrinal mastery key phrases for this chapter.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath”
What is the Lord inviting?
“and call the sabbath a delight”
What does “delight” mean here?
“not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure”
How would you put this in your own words?
“I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth”
What might this promise mean?
Doctrinal mastery: “the blessings of a proper fast”
Which reference goes with this key phrase?
Doctrinal mastery, Isaiah 58:13–14: “Turn away … from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a _____.”
Which word completes the key phrase?
First complete activity 2, then work through the six questions.
Take it to the journal
My sign
Choose what you would like to think about and a question to think with. Together they shape a page for your own journal.
I would like to think about:
A question to think with:
Complete activities 1 to 3, then choose one option from each row.
