Isaiah 58:3-9—“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. 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. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 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? 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 him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 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. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: “Here am I.”
Some of the most heated arguments that ever occur happen while people are driving to church! Why is that? And why is it that a person can abstain from food for a whole day in order to get right with God, only to be obnoxious to be around afterwards? Certainly our enemy the devil, loves to do anything he can to disrupt us and keep us from worshiping God with a clean heart. But God, through His prophet Isaiah, in the passage above, reveals deeper insight into our human nature.
Many of the things we do religiously, we do to gain God’s attention and approval (often for man’s approval as well). We come to God and say, "Look God, what I did for You. Now how come you haven’t noticed?" Please note, worship is not defined by how long we denied ourselves the pleasure of eating on His behalf; by how many hours we spent in prayer; or by how large the check we slipped in the offering was. The Pharisees, a powerful religious group in Jesus’ day, were the best at fasting, praying and giving. Jesus was not impressed. Why? Because they were legalists more concerned about the law than about how they treated their fellow man. Fasting did not produce in them a greater love for God combined with a desire to put that love in motion. It just inflated their own sense of self-importance. They looked great on the outside but were riddled with hypocrisy on the inside.
The key to effective fasting is self-denial not so God will notice me, but that I would notice Him. When my eyes are on Christ, my ears are tuned to the Holy Spirit’s frequency and my hands are ready for the Master’s work, the grumbling in my stomach isn’t complaining, it’s the roaring of the engines to get it on there’s holy work to be done!
Inspiration
