Did you know there is a time when God will not see or respond to your fast? What does the scripture say about this? Let’s read in Isaiah 58.
True Fasting
“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.
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.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
In Israel, fasting was a practice that Jewish people would participate in to get God’s attention. Isaiah 58 verses 1-3 gives the Lord’s perspective on why he doesn’t “notice” when people fast.
- Verse 1 says the people of God are living in rebellion and sin. In 1 Samuel 15:23, Samuel tells Saul, “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” God gave Saul specific orders through Samuel and Saul ignored those orders and did whatever he thought was best. Samuel tells Saul that having a “I’m going to make up my own rules on how to follow God” is the same as witchcraft. Even though Saul said he saved the best of the animals from the battle to sacrifice to God, Samuel told him that it would have been better to obey the Lord than to do it your own way.
Many people like to read the Bible and ignore what it actually says. They take an ala’cart approach to the Bible. “Take what I like and disregard what I don’t like,” is an attitude of rebellion.
When we fast and have this attitude toward what God says in his Word, we cannot expect for God to respect what we are saying to him.
2. Verse 2 says the people have an “appearance” like they are followers of the Lord. The scripture uses words like “Seem” eager, and “as if”….they do what is right. This is all about deception. You cannot hide your heart from the Lord. He knows if you are eager to follow him, or to just get something out of him.
3. These people want God to do something amazing for them, but they have rejected a relationship built on truth with the living God.
“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 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?
4. God is looking for people who are fasting to repent and to change. The first goal is to change ourselves. Are we willing to put an end to extorting other people? Have we been honest financially? Are we fighting, arguing and quarreling online or in person? These are things that the Lord wants to remove from our lives.
“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 them,
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 a 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.
5. Are we willing to wear ourselves out on behalf of others, or are we just worried about ourselves? Have you seen oppression and overlooked it? Have you stood up for those with no voice? Have you helped to fill a need for those who are hungry or needy?
The Lord says if we stop being self-focused and become others focused, we will soon hear from the Lord. He will be the Glory of the Lord as a rear guard and the righteousness going before us. The Lord will give protection to those who live surrendered to him.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
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.
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.
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.
If we want to repair walls of spiritual protection that have been broken down around our families, we must do away with gossip and slander and work on behalf of the oppressed.
Why? Because God cares for the oppressed and he wants us to show his love and truth to them.
In this situation, we will become a well-watered garden with a spring running through it. That means, even if the rains are delayed and there is a drought, the well of the Holy Spirit will run through your life, watering everything! When everyone else’s lives are dried out and sad, yours can be strong and healthy.
“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,
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.”
When you fast, God is mostly concerned with the consecration of your heart. We should not consider a fast as just a way to “get what we want” from God, but as giving God what he wants from us – our hearts. And when we live in step with the Lord, he will be glorified in our lives.
John 15:9-17 says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
Prayer Challenge:
Spend time asking the Lord if there is a way you can spend your time on your fast helping the poor or doing his work.
Ask the Lord if there is anything in your life that he wants you to submit to him.
“Father, in Jesus’ name, show me if there is anything in my life that not pleasing to you. Is there anything that I need to submit to you? Please show me any lies I am believing or if there is any unclean way in me that I need to repent from.
Fill me with your Spirit, Lord. Show me how I can best represent your justice and love in this world. Is there anyone who needs help or needs love? Is there anyone who needs to know Jesus, that I can tell them about you? Lead me to people who need to hear your truth and your love, Lord.
Lord, I want to be an example of following Jesus to my children and grandchildren. Help me to honor you with my life. Also, Lord, I claim your promises in this passage that my healing will quickly appear. I am seeking you for the healing of my family and the restoration of my children. Do your great work in all of our hearts, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Revealed Ministries 