Reflections For Lent

Isaiah 58:1-12 NRSV

Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

Most of you are probably familiar with the new term Hangry, a.k.a so hungry you become angry, but we took it one step further with our three-year-old and he becomes ‘slangry’ - sleepy, hungry and angry. These are common ways to feel when you haven’t had enough to eat in a day or the world is wearing you down, but in this passage from Isaiah, the Lord talks about true fasting. He warns against us quarreling or hurting our neighbors when we fast. 

The season of Lent is a time for each of us to fast, to repent, and commonly we deprive ourselves of some human want (chocolate anyone?) in the hopes of it turning our minds more often to God. But is that what really happens? Does it look more like the fasting that’s described in the first part of this passage where we quarrel and do things halfheartedly, or does it look as God intended? He calls us in verses 6-7 to ‘loose the chains of injustice and break every yoke.’ He reminds us that true fasting would have us sharing our food (not just depriving ourselves of it). True fasting would provide clothing and shelter to those in need and would embrace our families. 

This genuine type of fasting results in the Lord's favor as described in v. 9-11: “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs.” 

In the season of Lent, man sends up his prayers to the Lord, but the Lord doesn’t answer halfhearted, insincere prayers. He doesn’t reward fasting that isn’t as He intended. As you begin your Lenten journey this Ash Wednesday, we urge you to remember the type of sacrifice (fast) that God requires and rewards. A true fast is done with a heart for the Lord and will display the hallmarks of justice, compassion, giving and grace. This year, the Lord may not intend for you to give up bunches of things, but to embark on a fast, a true fast, to find what the Lord has waiting for you.

~Emmett and Nikki Moore‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬~