Active Fasting

It still amazes me that I can reread verses, passages, and even whole chapters of Scripture that I've read dozens of times and still suddenly see them as if for the first time. Isaiah 58 struck me that way today. Much of the chapter is about fasting, and it gives some very specific ideas about fasting. I've always been led to understand that fasting is to be a time when I set aside eating in favor of intensive prayer. "Whenever you get hungry, let that remind you to pray!" So, that's what I've always done. Isaiah 58 sheds a very different light on fasting. The first verses show God's children crying out wondering why He does not hear them in their fasting. Then He points out that they are fasting in their way, not His! Then we read... Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Isaiah 58:6-7 (NASB) This paints the picture of a very active fasting. Not a holing up inside our homes to be in our prayer closets, but a dispersal of our resources and energies to minister to the needs of the others instead of our own. The rewards outlined in the rest of the chapter for fasting in this way are amazing! I'm really pretty self-centered in many ways, I'm realizing. And fasting is one of those ways. I fast to clear my mind to hear from the Lord. Scripturally, I am called to fast to clear my selfish obligations to make myself more available to minister to others. It's not about me!!! Wow, will I ever truly get that concept ingrained in every aspect of my life? I know one thing for sure - I am determined to actively work toward that goal.