A Fruitful Fast

Do you like to fast? Have you ever wondered if God really sees your fast and hears your pleas? Isaiah 58 has much to say about fasting and how the Lord responds to it...

Key Scripture: Isaiah 58

To be honest, I'm not too crazy about fasting. I like to eat and I like to eat often! Snacking, meals, etc. I like it all. But when the Lord calls me to fast, I do it. And when I do it, I usually experience great things from the Lord! I admire my friends who fast as a regular spiritual discipline. Those friends love the Lord deeply and are doing great things through their service to Him. But there are many people who practice spiritual disciplines such as fasting, that the Lord is not pleased with. But how merciful the Lord is to give us understanding to change!

Pure!

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their afliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27 KJV)

Isaiah 58 is pretty much a Q & A between God and His people. He lets them know right away that their fast has not been pure. Their fast has been outward and fruitless. "Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness:... Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?..." (Isaiah 58:4-5 KJV) If not careful, we too can get caught up in a spiritual discipline that is not pure before the Lord. Most commonly, I think of Lent, a time when many Christians give up something for a few weeks prior to celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's all the buzz in Christian circles. We see and hear outwardly what everyone is giving up. But inwardly, the religious act is not pure for many.

The Lord tells us what pure religion is in the book of James. He is so good to also tell us what a pure fast is in the book of Isaiah. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?" (Isaiah 58:6-7 KJV) Are these the things you see in the life of those fasting? Honestly, many churches don't even feed and clothe the poor. How many people do you know that would bring a poor person that has been cast out, into their home? We see here and throughout all of Scripture, that the heart of the Lord is for the oppressed, heavy burdened, and poor. And because it's the Lord's heart, it is also the heart of those He has given a new heart to, through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Delight!

"And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." (Isaiah 58:10-11 KJV)

I love how the Lord shows us that a pure fast is more than just feeding the poor. "Draw out thy soul to the hungry" gives us the sense and understanding that the act of feeding the hungry comes from the very depth of our being. He promises us that in our doing, He will also guide us and satisfy us abundantly. Can't you just feel through Isaiah 58 how the Lord meets us where we need him most in our life, as we meet others where they are? It's truly delightful!

Reflect on the fruitfulness of your fasts. Have you experienced spiritual breakthroughs from the Lord in them? Have you witnessed greater depth in your relationship with the Lord through fasting? If not a part of your life, try fasting the Lord's way, with the poor and oppressed. May you experience the blessedness of a religion that is pure and undefiled before the Lord!