Message for August 2020
by Chauncey C Riddle
This message is designed to be read in connection with the 58th Chapter of Isaiah. Would you please turn to it? Your purpose in reading should be to answer the question: What is the law of the fast?
V 1-2: Note the reproach to Israel: They think they are trying to be righteous, yet they transgress.
V 3-5: Israel is puzzled: Why does their fasting produce no good results? The Lord answers that they fast to try to give themselves more pleasure, more success in this world, more power over their enemies. Those who fast for such reasons, even in sackcloth and ashes, fast in vain.
V 6-7: The Lord’s fast is to serve others. It is to relieve suffering, to liberate the captive, to rescue the oppressed. It is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to be with one’s own kindred in the service of God.
V 8-9: To those who follow the Lord’s true fast comes the light and knowledge of God. Being filled with the spirit of God they enjoy physical and spiritual health according to their needs. The path of righteousness opens before them and the glory of the Lord accompanies their walk down that path.
V 10-11: For those who fast in the Lord’s way there are no unanswered prayers, because among the righteous there are no yokes or social or economic inequalities, there is no finger of scorn or vanity. As the servant of God ministers to the needy, the light of God floods in, driving away all sorrow, all darkness. Such an one who fasts in the Lord’s law shall redeem Zion, restore the ancient cities, heal the family bonds, make strait the way of righteousness to bless all who follow.
V 13-14: Our human problem is that we want what we want. The solution is to acknowledge that God is wiser than we are, and to seek his will in all things: not our pleasure, but his pleasure. Those who can muster that much intelligence will reap the blessings of God in their fulness, and this is the heritage of Israel.
What is the law of the fast? Is it not the Law of the Gospel applied to fasting?
To fast from food and water and physical pleasures is the beginning of true fasting, to learn self-control, selflessness and righteousness. To fast from every evil doing and to substitute the Lord’s way of righteousness for our own will and desires is the ultimate goal of the true fast. To go hungry is not true fasting. True fasting is to immerse oneself in prayer, uplifting our soul to God with all the being we can muster, then to go forth and minister to the needs of those who are less blessed than we are. We fast to show the Lord that we love Him and His ways more than we love our own satisfactions.
Just to eat nothing is not true fasting. True fasting is to abstain from our own pleasures and to work with all of our heart, might, mind and strength through prayer to relieve suffering and misery in those around us and to establish the Kingdom of God and his righteousness forever.
Practical aspects of fasting:
- We prepare our hearts and minds for fasting by mighty prayer, endeavoring to become fully subject to the Spirit of the Lord.
- We prepare our minds for fasting by turning our thoughts to the things of the Spirit, trying to see all things in eternal perspective.
- We prepare our bodies for fasting by drinking appropriate amounts of water.
- We prepare our might for fasting by having our affairs in order so that they will not intrude into our prayer and meditation.
- When we break our fast, the goal should be to eat and drink just enough that we are able to maintain the level of spirituality gained during the fast.
- We should show gratitude for the blessings Father gives us by paying a generous fast offering. (President Kimball said that if we could, we should pay in fast offerings ten times the amount we save by fasting. Some persons pay more than that.) Fast offerings should be paid monthly, for the needs of those who are assisted do not occur on an annual basis.
- We should fast every regular Fast Sunday (unless we are among those who should not fast) and at other times as prompted by the Lord through his Holy Spirit. Blessed is he or she who knows and walks in the way of the Lord. Fasting is part of that way.