Fasting is not a spiritual discipline that many follow any more...why is that? Perhaps the denial of anything from self is simply not acceptable. Perhaps ideas such as Lent have taken its place [by the way, I just read from a scholar that the concept of Lent started under the pagan Babylonian cult of "false mother-child" worship...will have to read more about that]. What is true fasting? Is it simply the denial of food for an extended amount of time in which we devote that time to spending with the Lord?
Read Isaiah 58. The whole thing? Yep!
Now let me ask again...what is fasting? As you read you have found out that true fasting is the following: loosing the chains of injustice [untying the cords of the yoke = oppression], setting the oppressed free [breaking every yoke], sharing food with the hungry, providing shelter for poor strangers [and, oh, clothing him too] and, finally, taking care of your family [v.7]. Isaiah also throws in, for good measure, a novel idea...keeping Sabbath [v.13f].
Whew! That sounds like a lot of hard work! I know, I agree! But hey, I'm not coming up with this on my own. This is God's word to us! Now comes the part that I like in His plan...there are rewards! It is true...there are real treasure to follow when we are obedient to His word. Not treasure that can rust, or be taken from us, or that we have to leave behind when we die. Rather, they are treasures that we have for all eternity.
First, our light will rise [v.10]. This is the joy and salvation brought by the Lord. Second, our lives will have matter and meaning [v.11-12]. God will allow us to grow when nothing else will and give us God-appointed tasks to do. And ultimately, we will find true joy [v.14]. And, I believe, that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Read Ps. 58 again, but first read 57 & 59 so you see the message surrounding it. Allow God to speak to you through His word. Then let us go obey it!
