Of Fasting

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Oddly enough, there really is no mention of a personal aspect of fasting, not that I think that there is no personal effect or benefit. But in meditating on this passage, I’d have to say that I think fasting, just as every aspect of our Christian walk is meant to draw us beyond ourselves. Because God’s heart is really for the people.

Two of the biggest questions I had as I worked through this passage was:
1. How do we go from a personal act as fasting, to an external and inclusive response (such as, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, fighting injustice, or setting the captive free) ? [vs. 6, 7, 9b, 10, and 13]
2. How do we go from our actions in our fasting  and “good works” to the rewards God (and these are some awesome rewards) has promised us? [vs. 8, 9a, 11, 12, and 14]

The answer I’ve come to is a solution to both.

Verdict? Well, my answer is built on two premises:
1. As my small group leader said, “Fasting is giving up something you love, for someone you love more.”
2. The affections of the heart can not be forgotten nor destroyed – only replaced.
This is why fasting must always be coupled with prayer and scripture. What good is a day of fasting television if I spend it playing video games? What good is forfeiting a day of meals when you spend the day watching movies? What good is giving up chocolate when you binge on coffee? Like the man who had his demon exorcised only to become possessed by seven demons worse than the first, it is just as important what we replace that affection with as it is that we surrender it in the first place.
But rightful fasting takes our affections, desires, drives, and needs, and replaces it with the greatest love, desire, motivation, and necessity – God. And with every bondage and claim we sacrifice in fasting, God replaces it with something greater Himself. (This point bears repeating.)

This is my answer to both questions. As we rightfully fast, God reworks our priorities, motivations, and desires and replaces it with His. And what is on  His heart? To clothe the naked, feed the hungry, shelter the destitute, to free the captives, and abolish injustice. As we get drawn deeper into who He is, and He comes to constitute us more  and more, we can’t help ourselves but to follow the longings of His heart.
And in that place of intimacy, surrender, and obedience, we find the blessings of God in our lives.

For The Lamb