Add deeds of kindness and compassion to humility. The word in Isaiah 58:3-7 is not one of abolishing self-denial fasting; it is one that calls us to add to these disciplines of surrender the discipline of compassionate service. While we pray and fast, let us think about those who are in unjust chains, those who are oppressed that need to be freed, those who are hungry that we could feed, those who need clothing to protect their bodies, welcoming the wanderer without a home, while being focused on the needs of our own families.
Isaiah 58:5-7 (NIV)
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?
