Many Christians feel it’s impossible for God to see all the efforts we make (like fasting), and not respond to us. Let’s hear what the Lord thinks about great sacrifices by His people:
Zec 7:4-6 Then came the word of the LORD of hosts unto me, saying, “Speak unto all the people of the land. and to the priests saying. When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto Me, even to Me? And when you did eat, and when you did drink did not you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
Zec 7:7-10 Should you not hear the words which the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her when men inhabited the south and the lowland? Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying. This is what the LORD of Hosts says ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another
Zechariah 7:11-12 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder, they stopped up their ears from hearing. They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets Therefore great anger comes from the LORD of Hosts.
Remember when Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light? (Matthew 11:30) Do you know anyone who tends to ignore direct instructions, gets into trouble due to it, then looks for a way to make up for the problems except the original way they were given?
READ ALSO: WASTED FASTING
What God Demands
God didn’t add fasting to the list of his desires in verses 9-10. But rather than do what God demanded by obeying the law and the prophets. after they were sent into captivity, they came up with something to do. They disregarded the Lord’s commands and as is the nature of rebellious people, they tend to keep coming up with something to do to make up for their disobedience. Sadly, they very faithfully abide by their own fabrications and are good at being consistent with them.
I have a saying: What you got into through disobedience, you will not get out of through disobedience.
I think the command God gave them still applies to us today, and can be seen in multiple scriptures: Micah 6:8 He has shown you. O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
Jeremiah 9:23-24 This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boosts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”
Proverbs 21:3. To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice
Isaiah 56:1 This is what the LORD says “Maintain Justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed
Hosea 6.6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Colossians 3:12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience
Before you embarked on your starvation streak (fasting), were you living a life delightful to the Lord? Were you living according to God’s command to you, whether personally or corporate? Or did you live for yourself and then the moment you could not satisfy your desires, come up with your own shenanigans in a bid to twist God’s arm till He agrees?
READ ALSO: FUTURE TELLING