Freeing

“This is the fasting I wish: releasing those bound unjustly...setting free the oppressed breaking every yoke, sharing your bread with the hungry...” Isaiah 58:6-7

Sometimes we insist on our own ways. God has His own ways as well, and it is good for us to study what He wants us to do. When I was young, I do not remember why, but my “fasting” was planting seeds in our garden. I thought if the plants grew, my offering was acceptable to God. Well, the plants did not grow and I concluded that God did not want me planting seeds on a day for fasting. 

In Isaiah 58, the prophet sets down clear instructions for fasting. I went through several versions of the Bible and I find that the Lord wants us to release those bound unjustly, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to loose the chains of injustice, to set the oppressed free by breaking the bands of their yoke and sharing our bread with the hungry. There are additional instructions but this is more than enough to start with. 

Is there anyone bound unjustly anywhere around me? Someone who feels oppressed? It may be an office mate who feels I’ve treated them unfairly, someone I have not forgiven. It may be a friend who needs help and is too ashamed to ask. Last year someone I did not know very well started stealing money. She had a boyfriend, got pregnant and then needed money for an abortion. She was not a bad person but she had made one bad decision after another. Later I found out that she felt all alone and wanted to kill herself. How many people are there that I am in contact with, who feel all alone and hopeless? 

Lord, use me Lord to be a channel of Your love, Your peace, Your healing and Your strength. Point the way to the kind of fasting You want me to do.