Is this how you fast?

Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?
Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’
‘In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And exploit all your laborers.
Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
Is it a fast that I have chosen,
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord? – Isaiah 58.3-5

I love Isaiah 58. I came across this passage when I was preparing a Bible study on fasting. It took me a good chunk of my Christian life to get around to fasting. I rarely if ever heard it preached on for most of my life.

First the peope ask God a question - 'Why are we fasting and you are not doing anything for us?

That seems like a fair question. If I am doing everything right why doens't God do His part?

So God asks a question of the people. He gives His views of an acceptable fast day and asks them if that is how they see it.

Is God’s acceptable day for a man to afflict his own soul? Is it to ‘spread out sackcloth and ashes.?'  Is it a day for a man to showingly bow his head in humility? The people Isaiah addresses at the beginning were doing so out of pride and to make a name for themselves. ‘Look at me, I am a faster!’

That is not what God wants by any stretch of the imagination. We can see this when Jesus describes fasting.  He says ‘don’t make a show of your fasting. Go about your regular daily routine.’

We can do that only if we learn a spirit of humility. It can’t be a show of humility where we figuratively cover ourselves in sackcloth and ashes. Fast days are days for action and the next few verses describe what we are supposed to do.