The fast that I choose

Lily Cathcart February 08, 2026 2 0

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Isaiah 58: 1-8 (NIV-UK)

1

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 

For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.

4 

Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in 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 them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 

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.

This passage from Isaiah is so very Old Testament and honestly, I love this vibe. I feel like it is straight out of several of my favourite fantasy books: the king who has seen through the insincere rituals of the powerful, and the people who claim to be good, calls them out on it.

It feels designed to give us a good reality check. We naturally don’t like leaving the place where we have found excessive comfort, the place with plentiful supplies, with gifts and salt stores, self-preservation and the self-reassurance that we can have it all and nothing bad will happen.

We like to bury our heads in the sand, in the salt encrusted sack, and say look, I am doing what you have asked now, and I will probably do it again some time, I must be good.

But here, God thunders down like a just monarch who has discovered unjust hearts and says NO! Look at my people, God seems to say, look at every human and animal and habitat on this earth and then look at me and tell me you are doing what I have asked.

The Old Testament really packs a punch.

Luckily it also offers us a journey, a road to healing our hearts and our ways: loose the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, share your food with the hungry, provide the poor wanderer with shelter. The Bible tells us these things over and over. Here in Isaiah, God sends us a message: do these things and your healing will come, your heart will heal and God will have your back.

Prayer:

Dear God

We know that your heart aches for the earth you love,

And we know humans have made a real mess of things!

Help us to unbury our heads and find ways to act,

Guide us and protect us as we seek your justice and light in this world.

Amen