Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 27 – God’s Fast

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

As a Christian it’s easy to get caught up in ‘doing Church’ and all the trappings that go along with it – following the traditions and making sure we’ve got everything right in our effort to please God and seek God.

This is exactly what the nation of Israel were doing when the prophet Isaiah offered the rebuking words of God in Isaiah chapter 58. He chastised their fasting and offered a challenge to pursue the fast that he chooses. These were the words used to show the fast God chooses:

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 to bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin.

After talking about God’s response to such a fast, later in the chapter he goes on to say:

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 shall be like the noonday.
The lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places.

This amazing picture goes on and it is what God was offering the people if they would just align their practices with his heart, a heart for the poor and oppressed – a heart of freedom and justice. It is the pursuit of these things that he desires far more than how right we get doing church. Traditions have their place, but not at the expense of these other things God passionately desires.

Pray

Jesus, align our heart with your heart. Break our heart for the things that break yours and give us the humility needed to pursue the things you are passionate about.

Amen