“And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:11 ->me: Fasting passage concluded – Here in verse 10 there are four blessings if we take care of those less fortunate and freeing the oppressed. 1) Clarity in life’s darknesses and perplexities. A light given to you in the darkness to show the way. Does not mean you are taken out of the darkness, it means that you will have the ability to see the path when in it. 2) Timely supply – when things are bleak and when we are vulnerable, He will strengthen our frame and give us durability in the face of harsh demands. 3) The blessing of fresh incoming resource and vitality; like water brought for the garden, but balancing ministry of the watering can, there is a spring, an unfailing internal fountain. (John 4:14) 4) The blessings of restoration and continuance; recovery from past disaster and a returning to the greatness of those before us. Also in this is provision for a secure future living. Fasting Summary: Once again God shows us His blessing when the focus is taken off of ourselves and put on Him and others…in that order. The act of fasting itself is to withhold from ourselves the very thing that keeps out earthly flesh alive so that we focus on the very thing that keeps our spirit alive -> loving and seeking God with all our heart, mind, and strength. He becomes our focus and the fast helps us keep that focus throughout the fasting time. Then…when you bring in giving to the hungry, shelter for the homeless, justice for the oppressed, and clothing for the naked, you bring in ‘do unto others as you would have done unto yourself’. Again, God’s grace and provision linking the teaching of Jesus back to the old testament. “And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment and a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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