True Fasting
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
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?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 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,
10 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.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
My Understanding: God told Isaiah to shout it aloud, to not hold back, to raise his voice like a trumpet, and to declare to God’s people their rebellion and their sins. In the Bible, trumpets were used to give announcements or declarations, to give a call to battle, for the calling of assemblies, as a musical instrument of praise at processions, ceremonies, feasts, and sacrifices, etc., for the proclaiming of kings, and/or for giving alarm in cases of danger. Resource: http://www.bible-topics.com/Trumpet.html. In 1 Corinthians 14, the trumpet is mentioned in connection with giving a clear and intelligible call for battle so that the people can prepare themselves for warfare (spiritual). So, for Isaiah to raise his voice like a trumpet meant that he was to make the message clear, and it was to be a strong message that would get the people’s attention, and that would call them to some kind of action.
He was to declare to God’s people their rebellion and sins. Their sins were two-fold: 1) They practiced empty ritualistic worship of God, and 2) They practiced injustice.
Empty Worship
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are to be in close, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We should desire to daily sit at his feet, to inquire of him, and to want to get to know him, etc., so that we can know his will for our lives, and so we can follow him and obey him. That is one of the reasons we should pray, and it should be the reason for spending time with the Lord in his word each day. Yet, it is possible, because we are also human beings, that we may turn this time of personal worship of our Lord into empty ritual, absent of true confession, thanksgiving, seeking God’s face, and followed up by true obedience to his commands. Yet, we may think that we are truly worshiping God when, in fact, our worship of God may be in form only, but not truly from the heart.
We may go through all the rituals of worship – prayer, reading God’s word, fasting, worship, etc., thinking we are connecting with God, and that he is hearing us, when just the opposite may be true. We may even have the outward appearance of being spiritual beings who seek God out, who seem eager to know his ways, thinking we are doing all the right things, and thinking that we have not forsaken God because of all the religious practices we are involved in, asking God for just decisions, and seeming eager for God/Jesus Christ to come near us, and to comfort, counsel and direct our steps. And, after doing all of this and more, we may be guilty, as well, of coming to God in prayer and wondering why he has not noticed all of our sacrifices we have made for him, and why he is not answering our prayers.
And, this may be God’s answer back to us, as well, that we are going through the forms of worship, but we are not truly worshiping God in the way he requires of us. We are doing what we please (want; desire), yet we are not seeking God’s face to see what pleases him and what he desires for our lives. We may, as well, be guilty of taking selfish or unfair advantage of another for our own personal gain, in order to fulfill our own selfish desires. As well, we may be guilty of going through the motions of spirituality, and looking as though we are sincerely trusting the Lord with the circumstances of our lives, all the while we are taking matters into our own hands by quarreling and fighting with each other in order to gain the advantage over our opponent. God says to us even today that if our worship of him is in form only, but our lifestyles do not match our forms of worship or our outward displays of trust and hope in the Lord, we should not expect that God will hear or answer our prayers. We are just talking to the wind.
Loose the Chains
So, for God to make himself perfectly clear in what he is saying here, he lets us know exactly the kind of fasting and worship of him that he requires of us. He desires that we loose the chains of injustice, i.e. to release a person from feelings or circumstances that restrain or confine, which in this case involves unfair or unjust treatment. [Resource: Encarta Dictionary.] In order for us to physically do this, we would have to have knowledge, I believe, of the injustice and what we could do to loose those chains (bondage). It appears to me that this would specifically apply to those who are involved in the unjust treatment of another, as they would have the knowledge and power to act in reversing their unjust treatment. Those who are treating others unjustly may be aware that they are doing this, or they may think they are doing right, when they are not, so this would require them to seek God’s face for the Lord to convict their hearts of any unjust or unfair treatment of another, so that they could have the opportunity to make that situation right, and to make amends. So, each of us needs to go before God humbly, and ask him to reveal such situations to us.
Next he says we need to share our food with the hungry, provide shelter for those who are in need, to clothe those who are without anything to wear, and to not turn away from the legitimate needs (food, shelter and clothing) of our own family members. If we practice our Christianity in a way where we help people in need instead of taking advantage of them, i.e. if we repent of any known sins in our lives and choose to follow Christ and his commands, then God says our light will break forth like the dawn, and our healing will quickly appear. Then our righteousness (via our relationship with Jesus Christ through his salvation) will go before us, and the glory (praise; adoration; honor) of the Lord will be our rear guard, because we will be in a right relationship with Jesus Christ, and because we will be honoring and giving our respect and obedience to our God, and those will be what protect us, and what are necessary in order for God to hear us and to answer our prayers when we cry for help. If we are holding sin in our hearts and/or we are refusing to obey our Lord in any areas of our lives, we cannot expect our Lord Jesus to hear and to answer our prayers.
So, if we do away with the mistreatment of other people (yokes of oppression; false accusations; and/or deliberately harmful speech intended to cause pain to another), and if we satisfy the needs of the hungry (physically and spiritually) and the oppressed, then God will answer, and our light (of truth) will rise in the darkness. The Lord will guide us always, and he will satisfy all our needs, even when things may look utterly hopeless outwardly. Then, we will be able to rebuild our lives that were ruined through sin and through sin’s deceitfulness, and we will be able to uproot those harmful and wrongful foundations of our lives we were brought up under. We will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, etc., because God will work his revival and healing in our hearts and lives in breaking those chains of bondage to sin in our lives, and releasing us to walk in victory and obedience with our Lord Jesus Christ. As well, we will be able to help others to know how they, too, can be set free from the chains of their pasts, and chains of sin that have taken them captive.
True freedom from our yokes of slavery to sin comes through our absolute faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins so that we could go free from the ultimate penalty of sin, and free from the control of sin over our daily lives. We come to him by his grace and through faith – repentance (turning from sin) and obedience to his commands.
By Your Grace / An Original Work / June 27, 2011
Speak Your words to my heart,
Let Your grace and love impart.
Be to me all I need
To love and serve Christ my King;
To love and serve Christ my King.
Change my heart; be like You;
Let me love and serve in truth.
Guide my steps ev’ry day,
As I bow my knees and pray;
As I bow my knees and pray.
Love You, Lord. You love me.
You died so that I’d go free
From my sin; pure within;
By Your grace I’m saved from sin;
By Your grace I’m saved from sin.
Invite You in my heart;
Now I have a brand new start.
Repented of my sin,
So that I’d be cleansed within;
So that I’d be cleansed within.
Live for You ev’ry day,
List’ning to the words you say.
Make You Lord of my heart;
Be Your witness, grace impart;
Be Your witness, grace impart.
Obey Your ev’ry word;
Do the things I’ve seen and heard.
Your word, Lord, in me burns,
While I wait for Your return;
While I wait for Your return.
http://youtu.be/ikIhIASOw1c
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