ANCHOR (⚓) – NIFES’ Daily Devotional

Date: Tuesday 13th February, 2018.

Topic: Ritual Fasting

Bible Reading: Zechariah 7: 1–7 (The Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1984 by International Bible Society.)

1. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.

2. The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORD

3. by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

4. Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me:

5. “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

6. And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?

7. Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’ ”

Word for Today: Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? – v. 5.

Inspiring Commentary:

The people of Bethel, tired and wearied by 70years of fasting, came to seek from God whether to continue or stop the fast now that the purpose of the fast has been reversed. God retorted with a question, showing His utter displeasure at their empty religious rituals. They fasted to mourn the destruction of the temple and captivity into exile but it did not change their way of life.

After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and exile to Babylon, the Jews instituted two separate fasts to communicate the sad events. One was in the fifth month (August) and the other in the seventh month (October). Neither of these fast was required of them by the Lord, it was their own spiritual ego making ritual. But the fasts did not accomplish any change in their attitude towards God. They still continued in the act of rebellion and disobedience that was responsible for their going into exile.

When fasting becomes an empty religion, it loses its meaning. Fasting is a necessary spiritual discipline, but it can never be a substitute for godly character required in our everyday life. God has never and will never accept mere ritual observance of fast as genuine worship. Are you guilty of this?

Prayer: Dear Lord, deliver me from all forms of all religious bondage and may I worship You in truth and Spirit all the days of my life.

NB: We will pause here in our reflection on Zechariah to begin a special meditation for Lent. However, the last entry for Zechariah is on March 14.