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Isaiah 58

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Verses 1-14, “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the Lord? “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And 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 extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The Jews desired to know why their prayers were going unanswered. In their minds, they were worshipping God, but He was not taking notice. Unfortunately, they may have honored them with their lips, and went through the motions of obedience to His commandments, but their hearts were not right before Him.  James 4:1‭-‬4, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires  for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  Rather than receiving God's grace, they were being resisted by Him. They would not examine themselves, and therefore needed to be told their transgressions. The question was, would they receive the rebuke?

They thought they were fasting unto God, but they sought Him for selfish reasons. Even in the midst of their fast they were in sin...exploiting their laborers. They were fasting to make their own voices heard, not to hear God's voice and give Him the glory. When a fast is done the way God chooses with the right heart...it is effective.  James 5:16, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  Fasting can accomplish things that prayer alone cannot. But the bonds of wickedness must first be broken before you can approach God and ask for anything. So what has control over you that prevents you from worshipping God freely? There are lots of things that can keep us in bondage. Some will even argue that they have freedom in Christ to do these things. Jesus actually came to set us free from such bondage, rather than helping us to stay in it.  Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”  When you are walking in righteousness, only then will light and healing spring forth from you.

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