The people wanted to know if they should keep fasting.

The children of Israel had been in exile in Babylon for seventy years. They had begun fasting in the fifth month of the year to commemorate the destruction of their temple.

But God had miraculously moved kings and events to send them back to their land. They started rebuilding the temple, but got distracted. Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them to put first things first and get the temple built.

So a group of men came to Zechariah to ask about those fasts. They were back in the land now and working on the temple. Did they need to keep fasting?

God replied with a question of His own: “Was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?” (Zechariah 7:5-6).

As I understand, from what I have read, this was not a fast that was proclaimed by the law. It was something the Israelites started doing on their own. Had they started it for the wrong reasons? Were they feeling sorry for themselves and their plight rather than truly grieving over the sin that had caused them to be given over to their enemies?

Maybe, like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, they fasted and prayed for show. Jesus warned, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1-21).

Or perhaps they did start fasting for good and right reasons. But over seventy years, it’s easy to fall into routines and forget why and for whom we are doing them.

The following verses indicate that their ancestors had not obeyed the Lord He had told them:

‘Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.’ But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. (Zechariah 7:9-12).

All the religious rituals in the world will not make up for disobedience, hard-heartedness, and mistreatment of others.

The ESV Study Bible notes on this passage say, “If the people had learned the lesson that the destruction of the temple was intended to teach, and had truly repented and turned from their sins, then they could stop fasting. The temple was being rebuilt. But if they have simply been fasting for themselves all along, then their fasting was a waste of time (p. 1759).

It’s easy for us to fall into the same practices, isn’t it? Maybe we start spiritual routines like Bible reading, prayer, church attendance, and giving, with right hearts that want to grow closer to the Lord, glorify Him, and be used of Him. But in the day-to-day routines, we forget why we’re doing these things and for whom. They just become rituals without meaning.

Or we only do these things because we don’t want to appear unspiritual by not doing them.

Or we think that if we do these things, we’re okay with God, and it doesn’t matter what we do with the rest of our lives.

In Revelation 2, the Lord sent a message to the church at Ephesus. They had been doing well, patiently enduring, weeding out false prophets, and bearing up for His sake. But, He said, “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent” (Revelation 2:4-5). They were doing the right things, but they had forgotten their first love.

May we renew our love for Him by remembering His love for us, His character, His greatness, and all He has done for undeserving people like us. May we renew our focus to, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

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