Recall that Isaiah opened with a diatribe against empty ritual:

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. (Isaiah 1.11, ESV)

It goes on. Isaiah 58 picks up the theme using ritual fasting. The people are upset that God wasn’t paying attention to all their fasting sacrifices:

“Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” (Isaiah 58.3, ESV)

The problem is that by itself, fasting doesn’t “count:”

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? (Isaiah 58.3 – 5, ESV)

What does God want?

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58.6, 7, ESV)

Jesus echoed:

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25.35 – 40, ESV)

I’m afraid this is part of our faith that some of us don’t practice very well. I’m proud that The Navigators now has a ministry to the poor, appropriately called “I-58 Ministry” for this section of Isaiah. Heidi Gleghorn is the poster lady for this ministry. But being a friend of Heidi doesn’t let me off the hook.

The promise is there…

If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. (Isaiah 58.10, 11, ESV)

There’s a very profound truth in Isaiah 57:

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57.15, ESV)

Note what we have here:

• “I dwell in the high and holy place”: TRANSCENDENCE
• “…and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit”: IMMANENCE

I wanted to check the spelling of “transcendence” and “immanence,” and I found this paragraph on Wikipedia:

Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world. – Wikipedia

Guess what? the true God is both! He reigns over all (transcendence) and he is with us (immanence).

I want to do a follow up on Marvin Campbell’s letter to US Navigators. Part of it reminded us:

What we do as Navigators has never been about quick wins. We care about the ripple, not the splash. We walk closely with people—anchored in the Word and dependent on the Spirit—until truth becomes obedience and obedience becomes transformation.

In other words, I want to be part of a movement that generates fruit forever. Not one dependent on me. That’s why I invest in people. Jesus said,

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last… (John 15.16, NIV, emphasis mine)

“Investing in people…” is what Marvin Campbell is describing above. It’s not just preaching truth as important as that is. It’s not enough to know the truth. That truth must be translated into obedience, which ultimately results in transformation.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (James 1.22, NIV)

As I was meditating on these thoughts, a story came to mind that, when I looked it up, comes from a quote attributed to Archbishop Desmund Tutu.

“We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”

For example, there’s an article in Christianity Today that argues that gambling is a spiritual problem. I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. It opens with a brief description of the mammoth gambling problem we have in this country. Then he writes:

What do Americans want, exactly, when they gamble? I suspect the answer is spiritual. To me, at least, all this gambling sounds like wild, misdirected prayer. – Daniel Silliman

The solution is to walk with people, teaching them to love Jesus, so that they’re not seeking satisfaction in the wrong places. But there are A LOT of people! And therefore, we need A LOT of what Jesus called “workers:”

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9.35 – 38, NIV)

I wrote yesterday about outward appearances, thinking about whiteboard markers that often are returned to the tray without any ink in them. We don’t want to be like the church at Sardis:

You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Revelation 3.1, ESV)

What ought we to be on the inside? What should our life look like? From time to time I identify myself as a Navigator, and there may be some readers who don’t know what that means. I can’t give a better answer than to share with you a letter I just received from Marvin Campbell, our US President. He described our lifestyle and work succinctly, answering the questions I opened this paragraph with. I’ll present it without interruption:

As we step into March, I’ve been praying a simple prayer: “Lord, bring us back to You.” Not back to busyness or ministry activity. Back to Jesus—His presence, His voice, His ways. If we move quickly without abiding deeply, we drift. And more than progress, we need attachment to the Vine.

What we do as Navigators has never been about quick wins. We care about the ripple, not the splash. We walk closely with people—anchored in the Word and dependent on the Spirit—until truth becomes obedience and obedience becomes transformation. Disciplemaking is personal, relational, and intentional.

§ It’s opening the Scriptures with a student searching for identity.

§ It’s sitting with a service member under unseen pressure.

§ It’s meeting a young professional before work and letting the Word shape faith, integrity and courage.

§ It’s loving a neighbor in ordinary moments until Jesus becomes tangible.

This isn’t a strategy. It’s a way of life. And it’s how God changes people—one life at a time. – Marvin Campbell, US President of The Navigators, writing to staff, March 10, 2026

“Lord, bring us back to Jesus…we care about the ripple, not the splash…anchored in the Word, dependent on the Spirit.” We want to see:

Truth -> Obedience -> Transformation

“…It’s loving a neighbor in ordinary moments until Jesus becomes tangible. It’s not a strategy. It’s a way of life.”

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life… (Philippians 2.12 – 16, ESV)

You are a classroom teacher.

• Classroom 1: you walk into a room with a chalkboard and chalk in the tray.
• Classroom 2: you walk into a room with a white board and markers in the tray.

Both rooms appear to be equipped and ready to go? What’s the difference between Classroom 1 and Classroom 2?

Answer: we don’t know if the markers have ink in them or not. People frequently pop open a marker and write until it runs out of ink. Then, instead of throwing it away, they put it back on the tray and grab another marker. Pretty soon, the tray is filled with empty markers. In that respect, a plain old chalkboard with chalk in the tray is superior. What you see is what you get.

Scripture is clear.

…I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Revelation 3.1, ESV)

And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. (Judges 16.20, ESV)

…having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. 2 Timothy 3.5, ESV)

These are wells without water… (2 Peter 2.17, KJV)

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15.8, 9, ESV)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23.25 – 28, ESV)

I shouldn’t skip Isaiah 55. It’s the last of Eugene Peterson’s “Comfort” chapters.

• Judgment: 1 – 39
• Comfort: 40 – 55
• Hope 56 – 66

I’ve memorized a good bit of Isaiah 55. A highlight reel of gems:

We’ve talked about the benefits of obedience, and the beginning echoes that theme…

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live… (Isaiah 55.1 – 3, ESV)

…including a call for repentance:

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55.5, 6, ESV)

Do you have trouble understanding God…or his Word? There’s a verse for that.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55.8, 9, ESV)

And there’s a promise for those of us who speak his Word. I had claimed it for a sermon on John 9 (“once I was blind but now I see)” I was supposed to preach on March 15. Unfortunately, we got snowed out, canceling the service for icy roads.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55.10, 11, ESV)

I was able to share parts of the sermon with a young Vietnamese man on the Friday before. He promised to read the New Testament that I gave him. Pray for Eli, who describes himself as “spiritual but not religious.”

The chapter ends on a high note:

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55.12, 13, ESV)

After yesterday’s stunning prediction from Isaiah 52.13 – 53.12 of the Suffering Servant who “bore the sin of many,” we change gears. Isaiah 54 contains promises the Lord has used in my life from my first introduction to The Navigators back in 1967.

I’ll never forget Skip Gray’s sermon from Isaiah 54.2, 3:

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. (Isaiah 54.2, 3, ESV)

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago from Isaiah 43, Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, believed in “claiming promises.” A Navigator Core Value today is:

Persevering faith and believing prayer rooted in the promises of God.

Using Isaiah 54.2, 3, Skip challenged us first to lay a firm foundation (“lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes”). That’s why I teach over and over the importance of daily time with God (and I have to teach it to myself!). Then we expect God to bless our ministry of investing in people: “You will spread abroad…and your offspring will possess the nations…”

There’s more! In 2000, I was invited to join the staff of a large church in Alabama (we were living in Colorado at the time) as Minister of Discipleship. “Just come and do that Navigator ministry you did when you were here in the early 1980s.” My first thought was “This sounds like an opportunity for spectacular failure!”

That’s not like me. I’m a “can-do” sort of guy. Right after I thought that, I read Isaiah 54, and right after the verses above is this one:

Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated… (Isaiah 54.4, NIV)

There is was. A direct word. So we went. It’s now 26 years later. We stayed in Alabama for five years, per our agreement with the church, and did some good ministry there. It laid the foundation for our coming back to Colorado and going full-time with The Navigators.

And as I read today, I have to ask myself, Do I need to revisit these promises? “Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes…” Am I winding down at age 79 or is it time to be more like Caleb who told Joshua:

Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this mountain that the LORD promised me that day…

What should I be doing TODAY that could result in “spectacular failure” but that God’s promise of “Do not fear disgrace…” holds? Today I noticed verse 6:

“For the LORD has called you…”

I don’t know where this is going. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you updated.

Today’s reading is Isaiah 53, the definitive text on the Suffering Servant, which begins with Isaiah 52.13. It’s a perfect Lenten meditation, one of the clearest presentations of the Gospel in all of the Bible – and it’s in the “Old” Testament! I offer the text without interruption. Please read it slowly.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 52.13 – 53.12, ESV)

The substitutionary atonement is clear. As Paul wrote:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians 15.3, ESV)

• Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows
• he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities
• with his wounds we are healed
• the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all
• who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
• his soul makes an offering for guilt
• by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities
• he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

…he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. (Hebrews 7.25 – 27, ESV)

It’s St Patrick’s Day. I can’t do better than reprise what I first posted in 2023.

For all the hoopla and wild parties that some practice on March 17, the real story of St. Patrick is worth remembering. A friend and Navigator colleague who is from Northern Ireland summarizes it this way:

It’s important to remember that Patrick was a great missionary. He was an apostle to the Irish in the AD 400s and was used by God to convert the Celts of Ireland to Christianity, despite opposition from those who practiced the Druid religion. – Andrew Henderson

There’s more to the story, including the fact that Patrick was taken from his home in Britain to Ireland and sold as a slave, escaping after six years. Then he returned, years later, to evangelize the people who enslaved him. A nice summary written by Chuck Colson in 2006 is worth the read.

Last year, my friend and Navigator colleague Bill Mowry wrote an extraordinary piece on how Patrick incorporated art and imagination to reach the Irish. This is also an excellent read.

I can’t add to what Chuck and Bill have said except to note that the Apostle Paul was St Patrick’s model:

Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21.13, ESV)

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. (1 Corinthians 9.19 – 22, ESV)

Yesterday’s Fret Not piece was triggered by two essays encouraging us not to fall prey to negative news about AI. Isaiah’s warning bears repeating:

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. (Isaiah 8.11 – 13, ESV)

But Isaiah is always telling us to fret not. Here it is in our reading for today, Isaiah 51:

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations. (Isaiah 51.7, 8, ESV, emphasis mine)

I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? (Isaiah 51.12, 13, ESV, emphasis mine)

Some people say that “Fear not” appears in the Bible 365 times, one for every day of the year. It’s an important message.

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (Matthew 8.23 – 26, ESV, emphasis mine)