Loosening the Bonds
How does fasting loosen our bonds and redirect us to God and His purpose for our lives? As we prepare for the Day of Atonement, Lindsey takes a look at the vibrant imagery of Psalm 129 and its connection to this solemn day, and gives us some questions we can ask in moments of hunger and weakness to get the most out of this commanded day of afflicting our souls.
Scriptures used in this week’s video: Psalm 129, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 53
Hi, welcome back! I'm going to give you a sneak peek into Psalm 129 today. It's all about Atonement and yet it's not really; these psalms were sung for Passover, and going up for Pentecost, and also going up for these fall days, but it is very cool that if you start at Trumpets and do one per day, you end up at this Psalm on the Day of Atonement—and I think it's really appropriate.
Plowing and Fasting
It's talking all about being plowed and and the the hardships of that; so, right when I hear all the plowing imagery, I immediately go to Isaiah 58. And I've got to be honest: Hearing Isaiah 58 preached on days of fasting when I was younger was confusing. How does me fasting—how does me starving, let's be honest!—loosen any bonds of wickedness? How does that take care of evil in my life? And going back and reading over it from a bit more life perspective and more maturity, it's really cool to see how it does.
What I Want? Or What God Wants of Me?
Fasting is giving up something you want to pursue or to find out what God wants of you, right? And in this case, it's food; it's food and drink. You are giving up something you think that you need—maybe you know you need—and you are saying, I'm going to rely on you, God, and I'm going to figure out what you want instead of relying on what I want. And there's such power in that. That’s what God wants us to do, to just be able to say, I'm going to give this piece of me up; what do you want with it? What can I do to serve you?
Turning from Injustice
If you go read through the prophets, especially Ezekiel, so many times idolatry is condemned (obviously), but so many times idolatry is connected to injustice. And I wonder if it doesn't work the other way around, too. Injustice is this idolatry because serving God means serving His people; serving the least of His people; serving those people who you don't even think are God's people yet.
Think of Jonah, right? Jonah is a classic book that's read on the Day of Atonement, and Jonah was asked to go serve people who were certainly not God's people, right? They were the epitome of sin! They were the epitome of all the awful things, yet God wanted to have mercy on them, so He told Jonah to go preach that, and Jonah did—very unwillingly—and the people fasted. They repented right away.
It's not about them lying in the sackcloth; it was about them turning to God and saying, I am going to lay down my wants and I'm going to turn to You. What do you want? And it was really powerful. So turning from injustice is is what God wants here.
Turning to Him Over and Over
Also, there’s turning to Him—turning to His Sabbath, enjoying it, finding delight in it. There was a guy one time who was talking about meditating, but I liked his concept. He was talking about how it's hard to meditate; your mind wanders and you feel like you failed. But his thought was, That is the point. The point is that you are failing and you are bringing yourself back. So, every time you bring yourself back, that's the success. Don't focus on your failure; focus on the success you’re having in bringing yourself back. And you just get to practice it.
Day of Atonement Challenge
So, all day on Atonement, as you get hungry, as you get thirsty, just bring yourself back to, What do you want me to give up, God, for you? What desire is holding me back from the potential that you've built into me? And then in verse eight, [Isaiah 58} “…then your light will break forth like the morning; your healing will spring forth speedily.”
And that light thing is really cool because as you give up your desires and start to pursue God's desires… We're all mirrors, right? Whatever we're turned towards, whatever we're focused on, that's kind of what comes out of us. That's what we reflect. And so the moment that you turn your mirror to God, you reflect this blinding light. Of course your light breaks forth, because you're shining His light! You are now made in His image internally—spiritually as well as just physically—and you find joy in that.
Now, this joy is not the promise of an easy life; that would be great, and I think that’s coming in the kingdom… But Jesus was the best mirror of God that has ever existed in human form, and His life wasn’t an easy one. If you go back to Psalm 129, it says, "Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth. Let Israel now say…”—kind of calling them together to say this together—"many a time they have afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me. “The plowers plowed my back and they made their furrows long"—and that instantly brings back Isaiah 53 where Christ's back was all beat up and torn up; it was plowed by these whips on His back… But it’s by His stripes that we’re healed.
From Suffering, a Harvest
God took Jesus's suffering and His sorrow and He turned it into this incredible harvest of anyone who wants to join Him. So God's strength is that He can take the sorrow that we're going through now and He can use it; He can use it to bring life, right? There is so much joy there, but there is also a hard time… And the joy is in His strength and His strength is our joy. It's this beautiful connection, but it doesn't mean it's easy.
So this Atonement, as you fast, think about offering up your desires to God and asking Him what His plan is for you—what He wants you to seek, what He wants you to pursue, how you can unlock the potential to serve Him… and to maybe give you a little kick in the pants when you need it sometimes, because it's not always obvious to me… And I’m just like “Hey, God, light something up over here! Let me connect that this is what you are wanting me to do here!” And offer your scars to God because He can use them to bring life to others and it's a really beautiful thing when He does.
Alright, happy Feast days! I hope they're amazing!
