Day 17
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?Isaiah 58:5
I heard a great story years ago that has always stayed with me:
A little boy was in trouble so his mom told him to sit in a chair for a time out. He said no. She said, “Right now!”
“I will not,” was his reply.
“Boy, you better sit that backside down on that chair before I…”
He came back with, “Okay, I will sit on this chair. But Mom, you need to know that I may be sitting on the outside but on the inside I’m standing up.”
It’s funny how our insides and our outsides can be so out of sync at times:
We’re kings of multitasking. We can do things with our hands while our minds are elsewhere. We can accomplish tasks that even our hearts aren’t in.
God is saying in today’s verse that an outward fast that hasn’t engaged your heart isn’t the kind of fast that He’s chosen. You can give up a meal for a day, look humble, bow down like a reed by a stream but if your heart isn’t connecting to why that meal is given up, if your heart isn’t humbled, if your whole life isn’t bowed before the Lord, you may call it “a fast” but God doesn’t.
So today, may your outside action simply mirror what’s happening in your heart.
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?Isaiah 58:5
I heard a great story years ago that has always stayed with me:
A little boy was in trouble so his mom told him to sit in a chair for a time out. He said no. She said, “Right now!”
“I will not,” was his reply.
“Boy, you better sit that backside down on that chair before I…”
He came back with, “Okay, I will sit on this chair. But Mom, you need to know that I may be sitting on the outside but on the inside I’m standing up.”
It’s funny how our insides and our outsides can be so out of sync at times:
- The wife could be halfway through the highlights of her day. Yes, you look engaged on the outside but on the inside your trying to figure out who’d win in a race: the Flash or Superman?
- You pull up in the driveway at home realizing you don’t remember how you got home from work. You auto-piloted it the whole way.
- The worship team is near the end of their set. Yes, your lips moved and your hands clapped but your mind was trying to decide between Chipotle or In N Out for lunch and is Taco Bell real Mexican food and if Real Mexicans aren’t cooking the food in a Mexican restaurant can they really call it Authentic Mexican food and…
We’re kings of multitasking. We can do things with our hands while our minds are elsewhere. We can accomplish tasks that even our hearts aren’t in.
God is saying in today’s verse that an outward fast that hasn’t engaged your heart isn’t the kind of fast that He’s chosen. You can give up a meal for a day, look humble, bow down like a reed by a stream but if your heart isn’t connecting to why that meal is given up, if your heart isn’t humbled, if your whole life isn’t bowed before the Lord, you may call it “a fast” but God doesn’t.
So today, may your outside action simply mirror what’s happening in your heart.
Comments
Post a Comment