The fast that God desires
Posted by Chris Taylor on August 7, 2008
First, my apologies for being away. I was on vacation for a week, and have been involved in some discussion groups on theology (post coming on that soon). Also work has been busy over the last few weeks so that has kept me away as well.
Secondly, I hope everyone is doing well!
Finally, I wanted to post a bit of my reading lately and how it impacts all of us that say we follow God and worship the One true God.
God:
“Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.
The People:
‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
God:
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?
God:
“Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
God:
Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Isaiah:
“Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am ‘
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
And 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 become like midday.
Isaiah:
“And the LORD will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
God:
“Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
God:
“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
Then you will take delight in the LORD,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
(From Isaiah 58:1-14 NASB)
Thoughts I ponder:
1.) Do I hide myself from my own flesh (v.7) — that is, do I fast and keep things from myself: food, water, drink, wealth — when I should be giving to others instead (v.6-7)
2.) Do I keep a sabbath day and make it holy unto God — desisting from my own selfish ways and instead to do good works for others that are pleasing to God?
Tony said
Chris -
It’s the second half of your two questions that get us. Fasting and Sabbath are often focused on ourselves and our well-intentioned focus on God. However, how often is either focused on serving others. Great points in your questions.
Tony
tminut said
And I just posted about how I can delight in the sabbath instead of “just keeping” it! He keeps giving me the sabbath and I carry it around instead of knowing what to do with it. Sometimes it seems i’m wasting my time on little things when i should be out doing the major things. But aren’t the little things often what’s important? The attention paid to someone when you don’t feel like bothering? Wandering the streets trying to find good deeds to do is not what we’re called for, at least not some of us.
This is the section I was thinking of and not doing very well with at all: “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight,…
Chris Taylor said
Thanks Tony.
Tminut, you make a good point about wandering the streets finding good deeds to do. What I have discovered is, by focusing on God daily – not trying to be holy or righteous, but being humble and just simply open to seeing God work in the smallest things – the good “deeds” fall into your lap.
Sometimes these [opportunities for good deeds] have a way of _not_ occurring at the most “opportune” times for “me”, but these have ended up being some of the biggest surprises in my walk with God.
For example, a man needs a ride and I’m in a hurry. A lady broken down on the highway and I’m late for work. Stopping for a moment to talk to someone I might not otherwise talk to because “something told me to” when I really needed to be finishing a project at home and was in a hurry.
Those “good deeds” tend to just happen when your focus is right. I know often (very often!) my focus is own my self and what I want. These are the times that I have to guard against spiritual famine by getting wrapped up in non-God activities (the world).
God Bless,
Chris
Chris said
that whole opportune time thing is a puzzle…I had an elderly client and good friend offer to finance her old house to me. the offer came within minutes of my wife asking for a divorce. and owner finacing is the only way I could hope to buy a house. Now, this put me in a neighborhood surrounded by elderly people, and a couple single women. I have been doing a few small jobs, and seem to spend as much time making conversation as I do making a living. Also, doing work for free, or adding needed projects to the job without charging. This all happens at a time when the plan is to take on only the gravy, and work 1or2 lucrative days a week to flesh out my financial aid as I go back to school. There have been some surprises… one woman told me that her mother was resentful at her for never joining the church, yet she has remained in town and cares for/visits mom in the nursing home while all her christian siblings have moved away. As she told me this I felt an insight that healing was needed, that this bitterness caused her to keep God at a polite distance. I felt like I just needed to stop/slow down and listen whenever she wanted to chat. A not so subtle twinge in my spirit told me to let go of my concerns of cash flow, and income generated for days worked. This is just one example. The number of times God, spiritual disappointment or frustration has come up in casual conversation has been almost eerie when I stop to think about it. Also, I have been working a friend who is out of a job, and lost custody of his daughters. While I was busy elsewhere, The little old lady whose house we were painting came to get him because her disabled husband had fallen out of his wheelchair. The woman asked him for a hand, and he went inside expecting to move a heavy object, or maybe reach for something… without warning, this friend, angry against God, is confronted with a frail old man, bleeding on the floor and had to help him up. The incident moved him, nearly to tears. somewhere for me in all this is a balance between making enough money to survive, and being open to the prompting of the spirit. I hope I am finding it! or is it fleshly to even be worried about it?
Chris Rauch
Chris Taylor said
Sometimes I think Satan/devil/adversary has a way of making our lives “more busy” right before God puts people in our paths that need help. Or perhaps God knows we’re too busy and puts people into our lives to slow us down and meet their needs. Either way, it seems the “biggest” (though every moment is probably just as important!) moments seem to come when we are our busiest.
Or maybe we’re just more aware of pushing ourselves aside because there is a sacrifice involved? If it was always our perfect timing when we are chosen to show God’s love we wouldn’t take note of it I think.
Either way, it makes me smile every time I think of the moments God uses to draw us and others closer to Him by showing us how our own lives are empty if we’re not serving/helping others by being the good neighbor – sometimes literally in your case Chris
God Bless,
Chris
I Thirst said
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