Fasting & Action

I’ve always tended to think of fasting as a willful decision to give something up for the purpose of drawing closer to God, but recently I sense that it’s more than that. Fasting develops in us a greater awareness to the needs of our community that should grow into action, which makes sense to me because if we’re growing closer to God then we should also become more sensitive to the things that matter most to Him. This statement begs a question.

What is central to God?

That’s a big question. We could go in multiple directions and converse about several things. I’d like to focus my time and attention on one thing that I stumbled across in scripture a few months back. Matthew 25 shares a parable that talks about ministering to the least of these. Various examples of this type of people are given. People in prison, people who are hungry, people who are thirsty, and people who are strangers just to name a few. Towards the end of this parabolic saying the only place in scripture where it says: “You’re ministering unto me or you’re doing this unto me” is after we’ve addressed the needs of the least, the last, and the lost.

Another passage written by the prophet Isaiah drives this point even further. He says some pretty remarkable things in the 58th chapter about the motivation behind the nation of Israel’s fast. It had become somewhat of a religious exercise that looked like fasting. However, something huge was missing. Check this out in verse 5-8.

5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on 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 him,and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

They had perfected the ritual. Nevertheless, their eyes remained to the needs of the people.

Lord, may this fast open our eyes and bring about a greater awareness of the hurting in our community that will lead us to take action.