One of my favorite passages in scripture is Isaiah 58:6-11:
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? 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 awau from your flesh and blood? 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. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here I am. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 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. 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."
When I thought of fasting I always associated it with fasting from food, but fasting includes more than avoiding food for the purpose of prayer. I was challenged by this passage and the thought of fasting from the comforts of the American life. The poor and oppressed are close to the Lord's heart, and if we love the Lord and seek to follow Him, our hearts will break for what breaks His heart. If I fast from poverty and oppression and stay in my comfortable little world, I will never have a heart like the Lord's.
