The Fast God Chooses
Isaiah 58 opens with a shock.
God’s people are fasting, praying, and worshiping — and God rejects it.
They ask, “Why have we fasted, and You see it not?” They bowed their heads, wore sackcloth, and withheld food. Yet God responds, “I do not even call this a fast.”
Isaiah 58 and Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 reveal a hard truth: God is not impressed by spiritual practices that leave people hungry.
God is not against fasting. He is against fake fasting — fasting that looks holy but avoids repentance. While the people fasted, they continued exploiting workers and ignoring the suffering around them. They claimed to humble themselves, but God said they were really afflicting others.
You can starve your body and still feed your ego.
So God redefines true fasting: “Is not this the fast that I choose…?” (Isaiah 58:6)
The fast God chooses loosens the bonds of wickedness, frees the oppressed, feeds the hungry, welcomes the homeless, clothes the naked, and refuses to hide from suffering. Getting right with God continues by loving people rightly.
True fasting is not religious cover — it is spiritual warfare against sin. If fasting on Sunday is real, it shows up as obedience on Monday. A question worth asking is this: What sins do we pause for church and resume the next day?
Jesus didn’t fast so people would watch Him suffer. He fasted so the world wouldn’t.
When God’s people live the fast He chooses, darkness turns to light, healing springs forth, and ruins are restored.
So don’t just fast from food.
Fast from sin.
Fast from indifference.
Fast from injustice.
The fast God chooses doesn’t make us look holy.
It makes us look like Jesus.