Inspired by Isaiah 58-59, two friends in a coffee shop rethink what fasting even is, why God can feel far away, and the blunt answer that maybe it was never Him pulling back.
Tom: These two kind of hang together. Both are about false religion.
Ray: False, how so?
Tom: Like looking holy on the outside but having nothing in the heart and soul.
Ray: Ah. The going through the motions thing.
Tom: Yeah. First one’s all about fasting. They’re skipping meals, doing the whole religious deal, and wondering why God’s not paying attention.
Ray: And why isn’t He?
Tom: Cause the same day they’re fasting, they’re fighting with people and working their guys to the bone.
Ray: Oh. So it’s all show.
Tom: Pretty much. And God says the fast I actually want isn’t that. It’s feeding hungry people, folks who are stuck and need help.
Ray: Huh. So less about giving something up and more about, what, doing something for somebody else?
Tom: Yeah. That’s how I read it.
Ray: That kind of flips what I always thought fasting was.
Tom: Me too, honestly. I always figured it was just the not eating part.
Ray: Right? Like you white-knuckle it and that’s the win.
Tom: But He’s saying that’s not even the point if you’re still a jerk to everybody.
Ray: Man. Okay. That one lands.
Tom: There’s a line in there: take care of your own family too. Don’t hide from them.
Ray: That one poke at you?
Tom: A little. Yeah.
Ray: Same. Easier to help a stranger than deal with your own house sometimes.
Tom: Haha. Way easier.
Ray: So what’s the second one?
Tom: Second one’s the why does God feel far away question.
Ray: Oh, I’ve asked that one.
Tom: Everybody has. And the answer’s kind of blunt. It’s not that He can’t hear you. It’s sin that has gotten in the way.
Ray: Hmm. That’s a hard one to hear.
Tom: It is. It says His hand’s not too short to save. He’s not the problem.
Ray: So it’s on us.
Tom: That’s how it reads. And then it lists all the ugly stuff. Lying, hurting people, nobody being straight with anybody.
Ray: Sounds like the news.
Tom: Ha. Yeah, kind of does.
Ray: So is there any good news in it, or is it just the bad?
Tom: No, there’s a turn. God looks around for somebody to step in and fix it, and there’s no one available.
Ray: Nobody?
Tom: Not one. So He does it Himself. Puts on righteousness like armor and comes to save.
Ray: Huh. He just does it Himself.
Tom: Yeah. That part got me. When nobody else would.
Ray: That’s kind of the whole thing though, isn’t it? We can’t fix it, so He steps in.
Tom: Seems like it keeps coming back to that.
Ray: I don’t know that I get all of it. The armor part especially.
Tom: Same. I just know the gist. Nobody could do it, so He did.
Ray: I might read that second one again. The far away part stuck with me.
Tom: Yeah. That one’s worth another pass.
Ray: Cause I’ve felt that. The distance. And I always figured it was Him pulling back.
Tom: And now we know it wasn’t.
Ray: Maybe not. I don’t know. Gotta think on it.
Tom: Fair enough.
Ray: Alright, I’m out. This gave me plenty.
Tom: Yeah, me too. Later, Ray.
Ray: Later.
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 58-59
True Fasting
58 “Cry out loudly,[a] don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Tell My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”
3 “Why have we fasted, but You have not seen?
We have denied ourselves, but You haven’t noticed!”[b]
“Look, you do as you please on the day of your fast,
and oppress all your workers.
4 You fast with contention and strife
to strike viciously with your fist.
You cannot fast as you do today,
hoping to make your voice heard on high.
5 Will the fast I choose be like this:
A day for a person to deny himself,
to bow his head like a reed,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 Isn’t the fast I choose:
To break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the ropes of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free,
and to tear off every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your house,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to ignore[c] your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will appear like the dawn,
and your recovery will come quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you,
and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.
9 At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer;
when you cry out, He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you get rid of the yoke among you,[d]
the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,
10 and if you offer yourself[e] to the hungry,
and satisfy the afflicted one,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
11 The Lord will always lead you,
satisfy you in a parched land,
and strengthen your bones.
You will be like a watered garden
and like a spring whose waters never run dry.
12 Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
you will restore the foundations laid long ago;[f]
you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets where people live.
13 “If you keep from desecrating[g] the Sabbath,
from doing whatever you want on My holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much;[h]
14 then you will delight yourself in the Lord,
and I will make you ride over the heights of the land,
and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 58:1 Lit with throat
- Isaiah 58:3 These are Israel’s words to God.
- Isaiah 58:7 Lit not hide yourself from
- Isaiah 58:9 Lit yoke from your midst
- Isaiah 58:10 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr read offer your bread
- Isaiah 58:12 Lit foundations generation and generation
- Isaiah 58:13 Lit keep your foot from
- Isaiah 58:13 Lit or speak a word
Sin and Redemption
59 Indeed, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,
and His ear is not too deaf to hear.
2 But your iniquities have built barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have made Him hide His face from you
so that He does not listen.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers, with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
and your tongues mutter injustice.
4 No one makes claims justly;
no one pleads honestly.
They trust in empty and worthless words;
they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch viper’s eggs
and weave spider’s webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
crack one open, and a viper is hatched.
6 Their webs cannot become clothing,
and they cannot cover themselves with their works.
Their works are sinful works,
and violent acts are in their hands.
7 Their feet run after evil,
and they rush to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;
ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.
8 They have not known the path of peace,
and there is no justice in their ways.
They have made their roads crooked;
no one who walks on them will know peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us.
We hope for light, but there is darkness;
for brightness, but we live in the night.
10 We grope along a wall like the blind;
we grope like those without eyes.
We stumble at noon as though it were twilight;
we are like the dead among those who are healthy.
11 We all growl like bears
and moan like doves.
We hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions have multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us.
For our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgression and deception against the Lord,
turning away from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far off.
For truth has stumbled in the public square,
and honesty cannot enter.
15 Truth is missing,
and whoever turns from evil is plundered.
The Lord saw that there was no justice,
and He was offended.
16 He saw that there was no man—
He was amazed that there was no one interceding;
so His own arm brought salvation,
and His own righteousness supported Him.
17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and He wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.
18 So He will repay according to their deeds:
fury to His enemies,
retribution to His foes,
and He will repay the coastlands.
19 They will fear the name of Yahweh in the west
and His glory in the east;
for He will come like a rushing stream
driven by the wind of the Lord.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and My words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your children, or from the mouth of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.