Tag Archives: Isaiah 1:17

day 2860: Doing Our Homework

“Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”

I am always amazed by the people who enter into conversations with a point of view and then when challenged on “why” they think what they think, there is either hearsay or nothing more than a soundbite to back up their position.  What I find happens next is that because of not having facts or logic to back up the argument that the next response is to tap into emotions to carry forward, which usually devolves into an argument  or worse.  There is a better way.  When one stands on facts, process, and discovery from going deep on a subject, emotion isn’t needed as the default because the facts and truth can stand on its own.  The next time we are about to express our own point of view, let’s check ourselves on whether we have done our homework first.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet lays out a good process for us to follow as he told us how to live.  It goes this way; Learn and seek.  One done, we can begin to offer help.  Once we have put our knowledge into action through helping, we can legitimately defend what we know and have done.  And when we are confident with a defense, we can be ready to move forward to fight for the cause.  Too many times we do this backwards and start with the fight, which we then end up on the defensive, now needing help instead of able to give it, too late to seek out other ways or methods, with the only learning to be done then is to learn the lesson of not how to go about it the next time. Thus, learning and seeking, our homework if you will, done ahead of any action is what can keep us from getting off on the wrong foot.

Reference:  Isaiah 1:17 (New Living Translation)