fast day eleven: Isaiah 58, part 2

...your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Man, that would be awesome. But does that sound like you? What about this?

...your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

Is this what you want to be true of you? Is this who you want to be? Then you've got work to do. And it it caring for the poor.

Honestly, until about a year or so ago, I only cared about the poor with my mouth. You certainly couldn't have looked at my life and seen any indication that I had ever even heard about the many times Jesus harped about taking care of the poor. But, that has changed a lot in 2008 and I plan for it to change even more in 2009.

What are some steps you can take during this fast to change your heart for the poor? Well, first step, you can use the spiritual principle "your heart is where your riches are" and start giving aggressively to missions and mercy organizations. Just start with that and you'll see your money leading your heart to care about the poor. Second, you can start praying for the poor. Ask God to help you see them in your daily life and He will bring them across your path in droves. And of course a third step would be to actually carve out time to DO something about poverty. Go feed hot dogs to the homeless like my friend Chele. Or go take them sleeping bags like my friend Des.

But honestly, I think those are only good starts. I know that when I looked inside my heart, especially before God started changing it, I saw that I really spent my time and money on me and my world. You could see it in all the little details. Like having a "junk drawer" that would be a treasure trove in an impoverished nation (not to mention an attic). Or that my home is a mansion compared to my global siblings in Christ. And that my budget still has plenty of room for things that I don't really need. Eating out. New clothes. Convenience packaging. TV entertainment packages. $9 theater movies. Wow.

The reason an average of 29,000 people will die today of basic lack is primarily because of the millions living it up like kings. Greed is a major cause of poverty. My greed causing their suffering. Jesus was really clear about what He wanted us to do about it. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit the imprisoned. Bring water to the thirsty. And He said it in a very pointed way. "I was hungry. I was naked. I was in prison. I was thirsty."

Jesus didn't say things just to be dramatic and sensational. He meant what He said. Jesus Christ and approximately 28,999 others will die in this 24-hour period. He is sitting in rags in an AIDS-infested village in a mud hut without food in his belly and with drinking water a 10K walk away, right among my five kids in Burkina Faso. No wonder we struggle to hear God, or get our prayers answered, or understand His will, or beg for help and healing to no avail. I like how Francis Chan said it in his book Crazy Love, "God has more of a right to ask you why there's suffering in the world than you do of Him."

Read the passage from Isaiah 58 at the top again. Do we want our righteousness to go before us in a powerful, protective way? Do we want to know God's glory's got our back? Do we want to hear His clear answer when we call? Then we must do what it takes. Not just fast and go on about our own lives. We've got to pour out our lives as an offering to Him and do what He did when He walked the earth. Reach out to the poor, the sick, the suffering, the outcasts.