Isaiah 58 (NIV)

Even though we haven’t talked about it much during this series, we are going through the book of Isaiah during the season of Lent. If you’re not familiar with the church calendar, Lent is the season of 40 days that lead up to Easter. It’s a season to reflect on our mortality, our sin and our inability to rescue ourselves from the mess we’ve made of the world… a reflection that grows in hope as we look forward to Jesus’ death and resurrection as the rescue we need. It’s also a season of fasting, intended to help us enter more deeply into prayer and God’s presence as we set aside things that we tend to use to distract us or satisfy our cravings. People might pick something like social media, alcohol, or sugar… and they might try to pray more or spend more time in Scripture. But for some, Lent is more of just a cultural tradition, like a semi-religious detox preceded by the overindulgence of Mardi Gras and ending with Easter bunnies.

Today’s passage is all about fasting. Similarly, the Jewish people had ritual, communal seasons of fasting. And just like us, it could easily be just a show. What was to keep them from going back into their overindulgent, selfish ways when it was all over? They needed a fast that would change their hearts, not just make them look spiritual. And so do we.

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1. What words or phrases stood out to you in the passage?

2. The kind of fasting the LORD desires is a total shift in the way we live our lives. It’s the life that flows, with God’s help, out of that repentant, contrite heart we saw in yesterday’s passage. What part of this different kind of fasting stood out to you in particular?

3. Repairer of Broken Walls… Restorer of Streets with Dwellings… The people who choose this kind of fasting are given titles, honored as those whose lives reflect the LORD. He is the one who repairs and restores, and we have the invitation to reflect him into the world… to join him in his good work. What in your life needs to change in order to partner with God in this way?

----------GO DEEPER----------

Bible Project: Isaiah 40-66 >>

BP Exploring My Strange Bible Podcast: The Meaning of Hope >>

InterVarsity Press Selections: Isaiah >>

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