I’m running through Isaiah these days.  It’s amazing to see how God used the physical nation of Israel to demonstrate His glory and steadfast love to the “true Israel” – the body of believers, the Church.  I’ve enjoyed my time in Isaiah so much, that as I’m now in chapter 60 and coming to the end of the book, I’m somewhat sad that I’ll be through soon.  I’m committed to come back before the end of the year and make another pass through though, it is too rich to dig out all that God has for me to see there in one pass.  That’s a long way of me saying – I commend it to your study.

My exhortation today is out of that book, in Isaiah 58:1-11 – “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.  Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’  Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.  Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.  Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.  Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?  Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?  Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?  

“Is not this the fast that I choose:  to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?  Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.  Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”

Now, I suppose I’m making the presupposition here that as believers, you all fast.  I know it might not be something you were brought up doing, but know that it is spoken of by Jesus as something that is a regular, normal part of a believer’s life.  We see that when Jesus gives instructions on how to fast (Matt 6:16-17).  What’s important here to note is that God’s desire is not merely sacrifice or humility, but a heart that seeks after justice, mercy, and the righteousness of God.  Matthew 9:13 – “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

When we fast, it is more than just “removing” something in our life that might be a barrier to our relationship with God; when we fast, we are making an appeal to God for His glory to be manifested in our lives.   It’s is a tangible way in which we are saying to God, we want less of ourselves, less of our flesh, and more of you, more of your Spirit.  So as much as you fast to kill off the desires of your flesh, seek also to bring to life the things of God.  Do justice.  Love mercy.  Pursue wearied sinners with a message of peace through the blood of Jesus Christ.  May God’s grace be upon us all, that we would see more of the glory of Christ manifested in our lives to a lost world.

Grace and Peace,
Adam