Rev. Don Campbell
Is It Time to Fast?
In Isaiah’s day, the people were doing a lot of fasting and praying, but they lamented that God had taken no notice (Isaiah 58:1-3a). The reason? Their many fasts and prayers were hollow, ostentatious bargaining chips, used in trying to negotiate with God.
The fast that the Lord accepts is described in great detail:
“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 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.
If we have doubts as to whether God wants the same today, we need to read and heed James:
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:26-27, NIV).
