Day 4:Fasting and Praying
58 “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.
2 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.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 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.
5 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?
6 “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?
7 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?
8 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.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
There was a time when fasting and praying were staples of the church. Christians understood they were not empty rituals but instead were a major part of our Christian experience.
Isaiah’s words look like they could be written to today’s churches. Fasting without sacrifice is form without substance. Praying without drawing close to God is like whistling into the wind.
Paul told Timothy in his second letter to stay away from those who have a form of godliness but deny the real power. So when we go through the motions of praying and fasting, yet we fail to put our prayers into action, we are in essence mocking God. .
May we, during this Lenten Season, be so intentional in our discipleship that we pray not just for what God can do for us, but what we can do for God. May we take the money we would use for a meal and donate to a food pantry. And may each action we take during Lent help us to learn more about who God is who we are in Him.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
- Posted in: Blogs
Seeking Holiness 