"What breaks your heart? What makes you cry?" are questions asked of God by Christian singer/songwriter Scott Kripayne. They are questions born in the heart of a believer who longs to identify with God and participate in His work. The answers are evident in the broad themes of scripture and the stories of Jesus' encounters with people.

In Isaiah 58, God corrects the misconceptions of His would-be partners—people who seem eager to know His ways, who appeal to Him for just decisions, and make every pretense of wanting God to be near them; yet, all the while, doing what they please, exploiting their workers, quarreling and fighting among themselves, and turning away from their own.

To partner with God means I am moved "to spend [myself] in behalf of the hungry." It means I must "loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke." It means that my heart cannot rest until I do what I can "to set the oppressed free and break every yoke." To partner with God means I must "provide the poor wanderer with shelter."

One such partner was Harriet Tubman. Born a slave in Maryland, she escaped to Canada at the age of 30. Not able to enjoy her freedom as long as others remained oppressed, she personally financed herself as a "conductor" in the Underground Railroad. She is credited with conducting 300 persons to freedom.

A deeply spiritual person, she took Isaiah 6:8 to be a personal call—"Whom shall I send? and who will go for us?" In other words, "Who will partner with Me?"

Gary Burns, Lake Union Herald editor