fast day twenty: Zechariah 7

Zechariah was one of Daniel's contemporaries, a prophet giving messages from God to His people trying to organize themselves after the 70 years of exile in Babylon. In this chapter, the people are wondering if they should continue the fasting calendar they had kept and the Lord answers through Zechariah.

"...when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?..."

Since Moses' time, God instituted a whole calendar of fasts and feasts, both designed to draw His people closer to Him. Get that? If you make seeking God and drawing closer to Him your goal for every day, both this time of fasting, and the feasting that may come in the upcoming days, can both be holy to the Lord. I want all of us to really seek out how this time has changed your relationship with God (and with food and other relationships). But then I want us to consider the ways that our times of feasting (not gluttony, but joyful appreciation of God's blessings) can draw us towards Him too. Here's another way I hope we're changed.

"Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other."

Can we do this part too? Can we refocus our lives and hearts to pour ourselves out for them. Can we bring His mercy and kindness to the poor?

I love the way this fast has affected us, but I'd love the change to continue. I see no scriptural evidence that God has called us to fast every day. Jesus didn't do it, and God commanded feasts. So I have to believe that God is just excited about His love for us the day after your fast as today. When we wake up each day with a renewed focus on God and spreading His love, we can spend the rest of this year falling more in love with God each day, fast or feast.