Is not this the fast that I choose; to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps 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 him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?  Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness 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 and he will say, ‘Here I am.’  If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairs of the break, the restorer of streets to dwell in. Isaiah 58:6-12

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If you have done any kind of fasting from food in your life you know that very quickly your dependency on food becomes apparent. There’s an immediate awareness of how much we are controlled by the body and its needs and wants. Anger, irritability, and blame often rise to the surface when we are without food. (Or maybe that’s just me!) But, the essence of fasting is to show us our complete weakness and dependence on God.

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Previous to these Isaiah verses above, the people of Israel were crying out to God saying, and I’m paraphrasing, “we fasted and you're not seeing it, you’re not answering our prayers and you're not drawing near!” The Lord answers through the prophet Isaiah that, “yes, you’re fasting but you’re carrying on business as usual…quarreling, fighting, oppressing others. You’re seeking your own pleasure, so why would I answer you?”

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It sounds like the Israelites were not dealing with the ugly that came out while fasting but operating in the same manner as they always had. The fast was not changing their fleshly and wicked responses and actions.

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So in Isaiah 58:6-12, the Lord tells them what kind of fast is acceptable and pleasing in his sight. He tells them why he’s not answering their prayers during their fast and explains what will bend his ear. He says, if you stop oppressing your workers, stop accusing and blaming each other, slandering, gossiping, and instead offer yourselves in compassion to the hungry, relieve those in misery, bring the homeless into your house, don’t turn away from your families, put clothes on the naked,then I will answer when you call me. I will draw near and you will see the glory of the Lord. I will move on your behalf.

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Essentially what the Lord is saying is that the kind of fast he chooses is fasting from our own wickedness and selfishness. He is not concerned with us depriving ourselves from food just for the religious sake of it. He often uses fasting as a tool to highlight the ugly places in our hearts and then offers a way to heal them. In Isaiah, he implores the Israelites to step into those ugly, uncomfortable places. The places that hurt them in the flesh. Why? Because he knows that if they would move toward what hurts, they will be healed of the broken places within them.

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So, are things like feeding the hungry and bringing the homeless into our houses things that would hurt us in the flesh? I would argue, yes. If I asked you, “Would it hurt to give up an evening with your family to serve at a food bank or homeless shelter. Would it hurt to pay for an electric bill for someone who can’t afford to pay it. Harder yet to pay their mortgage for the month? What if they are making choices you don’t agree with that lead them to be in those places of need. Would that hurt even more? Yes! Sometimes it hurts a lot. It hurts our schedules, our checkbooks, our pride…

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There’s this great quote from Mother Theresa that says “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

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Lord make me like Mother Theresa! I confess that love still hurts.

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If we are able to walk toward what hurts and abstain from our own wicked desires and selfish agendas, what the Lord promises in return is immeasurable. We get to have the ear of the Lord! He will go before us and behind us. When we call to him, when we cry to him, He will say “here I am”. He will heal us and always satisfy us.

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I don’t know about you but I want that.

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I’ll be honest with you, about 8 years ago, I asked to be on the board of a small local ministry called Main Street Ministries that shelters women and their children who come from trauma, abuse, homelessness, etc. I asked to be on this board because I knew there was a deficit in my heart. I had virtually no compassion for the destitute. I had plenty of judgments for them, but no desire to help their plight. I knew my heart was cold and calloused to something the Lord cared deeply about. As I read scripture that implored Christ’s followers to be kind and give to the needy, I felt little compassion in my heart. So while I couldn’t have named it then, when I asked to be on the board, what I was doing was fasting from my own cold and selfish heart. To gain the heart of Christ for the destitute.

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And let me tell you, stepping into this ministry hurt. A lot. My flesh screamed and I wanted to back out many times. Sometimes I still find myself in that place. I assure you, I am no Mother Theresa. When an apartment is trashed, when a woman chooses to leave before she’s far enough along in the healing process, when an addiction wins the day, those are the discouraging days.

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But the beauty I have found in this service far outweighs the hard days. Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” He is so near to the broken and we get a front row seat to it at Main Street. We have seen modern day miracles time and again. Once we were talking about needing a couch when the phone rang with someone on the other end offering a couch. We have been meeting about our lack of finances when someone comes in the office and hands us a sizable check. Hundreds of stories like this live in the walls of Main Street ministries. When we call, God answers. He is near.

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However, in stepping into the gap for those in need and fasting from my own selfish motives and desires, much to my surprise, like Mother Theresa I found my own paradox. I found that I was, in fact, the needy one. I found that I was actually the hungry one. The poor one. I was the broken one. The naked one. Devoid of the clothes of Christ. The clothes of compassion, kindness, mercy, justice. Love.

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May God show us all the places in our own hearts that are destitute and may he grant us the courage to step into those places to be refined by his love.