Prayer: Father, this is one of the most convicting chapters in the Bible. Do I seek to please You in my fasting or do I seek my own pleasure? Help me to open my eyes and heart. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 58 key: 6-7 “Is not this the fast I choose: to release the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood?” TLV
Attention: I have heard sermons preached on fasting, but I am not aware of having heard a sermon preached on the fasting which God chooses. I have heard of the Daniel fast or a juice fast, a water and supplement fast. I have heard of one day a week, a three day, a weeklong, or a forty day fast. I have heard of a fast from electronics, from media, or even your favorite food or drink vice, but never the fast God chooses.
Do we not act like the Hebrew nation which God exposes to Isaiah? A nation and people who “ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.” Don’t we tend to fast and think we are closer to God? That we have appeased Him and satisfied His demands? Have you ever asked yourself why you fast? Do you wonder if God has noticed? I have experienced losing weight and feeling more energetic because I gave my body a break from eating three squares a day. Even the world practices body cleanses, is that all we have accomplished in fasting?
Yes, I know when we fast, we tend to pray more and meditate on scripture. But God is calling us to do some specific work for the kingdom. When Yeshua sent out His disciples, He instructed them to specifically do these things, “Yeshua summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, so they could drive them out and heal every kind of disease and sickness” (Matthew 10:1). Here God goes beyond the spiritual and includes meeting the physical needs of shelter, clothes, and food.
Oh, and while we are making observations on this text, God adds in the very last of His statement, do “not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood.” I am a chaplain for a Senior Care Home. I observe a bevy of lonely, abandoned seniors who have not seen a family member in a long time. It is a dreadful thing to observe.
Chapter 58 of Isaiah is closely related to Matthew 25:31-46. I challenge you to read it along with today’s scheduled reading. We are ministering directly to Yeshua when we care for the naked, hungry, poor, the prisoner (may not only be those who are incarcerated), and the sick (not only those in hospitals).
Adonai promises benefits for those who meet the needs mentioned above. He says your “light” will beam and “your healing will spring up speedily. Your righteousness will go before you, the glory of Adonai as your rear guard.” Then you will call, and Adonai will answer. You will cry and He will say, “Here I am.” If you get rid of the yoke among you— finger-pointing and badmouthing— if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will be like midday. Then Adonai will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins, will raise up the age-old foundations, will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets for Dwelling” (vs. 8-12).
The benefits are plentiful. The need is bountiful. The workers are few. It is not glamour work, but it does bring glory to God and speed up healing.
Action: I choose to be obedient to Adonai and be Yeshua to those in need.
Yield: I choose to submit my life to the authority of Yeshua.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Spirit to be Yeshua too many.
Relationship: I choose to live a lifestyle of obedience to Adonai.
Prayer: Father, help me to be Yeshua to those whom You have a special affinity toward. Those whom You named in scripture. Amen.
Memory Verse: Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is not this the fast I choose: to release the bonds of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood?” TLV
Music Video: Keith Green—Asleep in the Light https://youtu.be/prJSdB126bw?si=azoD9iupxlB1dJN0
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”