January 2

Freedom Through Fasting

“Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?”
Isaiah 58:6

Fasting has a way of setting us free.  Indeed, freedom is one of the purposes for fasting found in Isaiah 58.  What we are not told, though, is how exactly fasting brings about freedom in our lives.  We may be able to see it more clearly when we remember how bondage and oppression entered into the world.  The first act of human sinfulness in the world was the eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Sin, as well as all of its oppressive consequences, entered into the world through an act of eating.  When we fast, when we intentionally refuse to eat in order to draw closer to the Lord, part of what we are doing is symbolically rejecting the activity that brought sin into the world.  In doing so, we begin to do what Paul encourages us to do in Romans 6:13, present ourselves as instruments of righteousness to God.  As we have dedicated this opening portion of the year to prayer and fasting, let us recognize that we are not simply engaging in a spiritual discipline; we are actively rejecting sin and all of the oppressive bondage that comes along with it.  This is where new freedom in our lives will be found this year.