Isaiah 58:5-10

Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?  (Isaiah 58:6-7)

When Lent rolls around, the topic of “giving something up” inevitably enters the conversation. This whole business of giving up chocolate, booze, or some perceived vice has its roots in the Lenten discipline of fasting. The purpose of fasting is not to create some kind of penitential torture, but rather to create space for an encounter with God. If giving up chocolate can somehow do that for you, then go for it. But you might be better served by doing a spiritual audit and determining what activities, habits, and practices numb any awareness of the Spirit’s presence or leading in your life. 

Isaiah 58 describes a people who want an encounter with God, and are taking on practices that they think will help them in this effort. God calls them to reconsider what they’ve given up, so to speak, and to take on practices that lead them to the love of neighbor. In other words, the fast that God desires is a fast from self-centered indifference that leaves others caught in the grips of injustice, oppression, hunger, or loneliness. What does that kind of fast look like for you?

Isaiah 58:5-10 NRSV
  5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.