The Repairer of the Breach

As I read Isaiah 58 today, I was impressed by the focus in this chapter on helping others through fasting. First, the Lord condemned the people because they were burdening others through their fasting: “Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours” (v3). The footnote for that last phrase suggests that those who fasted were inflicting travail on others through their fast. The Lord, on the other hand, wanted them to fast in order to help and bless others. He declared, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (v6) Surely we might do all of these things for ourselves as we fast, but it seems to me that the Lord was speaking here of doing this for others: fasting should help to undo heavy burdens and enable us to let the oppressed go free and break their yokes. The chapter continues, “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” (v7) Here the Lord was clearly suggesting that their fasting was meant to help others, providing food to the hungry, helping the poor, and clothing the naked. The Lord further declared, “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually” (v9-11). We should not scorn others or speak with vanity, but as we fast and cause ourselves to be hungry, it should draw our soul out to those who are truly hungry and should lead us to help the afflicted soul. The final verse of this chapter speaking about fasting says this: “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in” (v12). As we fast in the way that the Lord wants us to, we can become a repairer and a restorer to others. The true spirit of fasting is not to afflict our own souls but to repair and restore and bless others.

            The Book of Mormon describes in many places how the faithful Nephites fasted, and several of the passages show that often their fasting was indeed for the benefit of others. When Alma had his visit from the angel and became unresponsive, his father “caused that the priests should assemble themselves together; and they began to fast, and to pray to the Lord their God that he would open the mouth of Alma, that he might speak, and also that his limbs might receive their strength—that the eyes of the people might be opened to see and know of the goodness and glory of God” (Mosiah 27:22). They fasted to bless Alma and their fast was indeed heard by the Lord. Another passage describes how their fasting was meant to help others: “Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God” (Alma 6:6). They were to fast for the “welfare of the souls” of others who did not know their God. This is exactly what the sons of Mosiah did: “But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God…. And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth” (Alma 17:9). They earnestly fasted for the Lamanites as they went on a mission to serve them, and their fast was indeed heard and did, as Isaiah said, “let the oppressed go free” from their sins. Towards the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni summarized, “And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls” (Moroni 6:5). Their fasting was a part of their worship and was for the welfare of their souls, not just their own but for all the disciples. These examples along with the words of Isaiah remind us that instead of focusing on our own hunger and thirst when we fast, we should turn our souls outwards towards others to bless them. And then, with that emphasis in our fasting, we can indeed become for others “the repairer of the breach” and “the restorer of paths to dwell in.”