Ecclesiastes 1:14
King James Version
14 I have seen all the works
that are done under the sun;
and, behold,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Context is circumstances prior to something.
To get a better understanding of GOD's idea for a fast in the Isaiah 58:6 verse, we need to know what GOD said before that:
Isaiah 58:1-5
King James Version
58 Cry aloud,
spare not,
lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and shew my people their transgression,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily,
and delight to know my ways,
as a nation that did righteousness,
and forsook not the ordinance of their God:
they ask of me the ordinances of justice;
they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted,
say they,
and thou seest not?
wherefore have we afflicted our soul,
and thou takest no knowledge?
Behold,
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure,
and exact all your labours.
4 Behold,
ye fast for strife and debate,
and to smite with the fist of wickedness:
ye shall not fast as ye do this day,
to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen?
a day for a man to afflict his soul?
is it to bow down his head as a bulrush,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
wilt thou call this a fast,
and an acceptable day to the Lord?
From that, we know that man's way of fasting on such an important day for GOD, doesn't reflect GOD's way.
GOD's ways are pure, perfect, and precise.
Isaiah 55:8-9
King James Version
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
To have an idea of the mind of GOD, let JESUS teach us about fasting.
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