Isaiah 58 ESV

In a culture that is constantly telling us that happiness comes from having more and doing more, the message of Isaiah 58 stands out as it teaches that less is ultimately more.  God is calling us to have margins in our lives so that we may develop a deeper love for him (v.6) and compassionate love for our neighbor. (v.7)  In this passage God identifies two ways in which Israel has false piety  - fasting (v.1-5) and their treatment of the Sabbath (v.13).  These two practices are for our good.  As we fast, we step aside from our every day to “break the bonds of wickedness (v.6) and “share bread with the hungry (v.7), creating margins for godliness.  The same is true as God shifts from talking of fasting to feasting in the section on the Sabbath (v. 13-14). This day of rest gives us margins in our lives to focus on God, rest, and mercy.  How can you experience these blessings in your own life?  Do you see God as a genie in a bottle? Does your character match your creed? Put down your idols of deeds as God was calling the Israelites to do and worship God as he commands.  This true worship bring freedom and rest in the redemptive work of our compassionate God.  

True and False Fasting

58 “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.
2 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.
3 ‘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,[a]
    and oppress all your workers.
4 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.
5 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?

6 “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[b] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
7 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?
8 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.
9 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,
10 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.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you s