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A Watered Garden

Israel kept the outward forms of fasting and the Sabbath; the Lord asked for hearts turned toward the burdened and toward Him

  • 📖 Adult Sunday School
  • Week 42
  • 📅 Sunday, October 18, 2026
🏆 Showdown
💡 The big idea

The Lord’s holy days are not about going without or checking boxes; the fast He chooses lifts other people’s burdens, the Sabbath He blesses turns us toward Him, and both make us like a watered garden whose waters do not fail.

I can make my fasting and my Sabbath about lifting others and drawing near to the Lord, and trust Him to guide me continually.

Study it yourself firstRead Isaiah 58–66 in Gospel LibraryCome, Follow Me manualOpen this week (Isaiah 58–66)
Know the chapters

Isaiah 58–66 closes the book with some of its brightest chapters. Isaiah 58 redefines fasting and the Sabbath. Isaiah 59 is honest that sin separates us from God, then promises that “the Redeemer shall come to Zion” (59:20). Isaiah 60 begins, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” Isaiah 61:1–3 describes One anointed to bind up the brokenhearted and give “beauty for ashes”; Jesus read it in the synagogue at Nazareth and said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:16–21). Chapter 63 pictures the Lord in red garments who has “trodden the winepress alone” (63:3; see Doctrine and Covenants 133:46–51), and chapters 65–66 look to new heavens and a new earth.

This lesson centers on Isaiah 58. The people seem devout: they seek the Lord “daily” and “delight to know my ways” (58:2). Yet they complain, “Wherefore have we fasted… and thou seest not?” (58:3). The Lord’s answer is direct. On their fast days they chase their own business, drive their workers and pick fights (58:3–5). The fast He chooses is aimed at burdens: loosing bands, undoing heavy loads, freeing the oppressed, sharing bread, housing the poor, clothing the naked, and not hiding “from thine own flesh” (58:6–7). Then come the promises, each introduced with “then”: light breaking forth, the Lord answering “Here I am,” continual guidance, a watered garden, a repairer of the breach (58:8–12).

The chapter ends by applying the same principle to the Sabbath: turn away from “doing thy pleasure on my holy day,” call the Sabbath “a delight,” and “then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord” (58:13–14). In latter-day revelation the Lord ties the two holy practices together again, calling Sabbath fasting “rejoicing and prayer” (Doctrine and Covenants 59:13–14). In the Church today, members are invited to fast on fast Sunday, usually by going without two meals, and to give a generous fast offering to help people in need.

Twenty-five minutes is enough for Isaiah 58 read well and discussed honestly. Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 are ready as a bonus step if you have time.

Only have 5 minutes?

Read Isaiah 58 once. Open with an empty plate and ask what we go without on fast Sunday and why. Read Isaiah 58:3–7, then find the “thens” in verses 8–11. Spend most of the time on The Fast That I Have Chosen, close with 58:13–14 and a testimony, and invite each person to lift one specific burden this week.

What to bring2 items

Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.

Before class

  1. Read Isaiah 58 straight through. Mark verses 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 13.
  2. Ask two people ahead of time to read: a Reader for Isaiah 58:8–11 and a Builder for 58:12. A quick text on Saturday is plenty.
  3. Read President Henry B. Eyring’s quote below and think of a time fasting changed your own heart.
  4. Think about which burdens are real in your ward right now (unemployment, illness, loneliness, new move-ins) without naming anyone in class.
  5. Pick the two or three discussion questions you most want to reach. You won’t have time for all of them, and that’s fine.

Discussion tips

  • Quiet class? Start the first discussion question in pairs. Fasting is personal, and people often share more easily with one neighbor first.
  • One voice filling every pause? Thank them warmly, then say, “Let’s hear from someone who hasn’t had a chance yet.”
  • Some people can’t fast for health reasons, pregnancy, age or a history of eating disorders. Say plainly that Isaiah 58 is about the heart and about lifting burdens, which anyone can do, and don’t press anyone to explain.
  • Keep the Sabbath discussion from turning into a list of rules or a debate about what other people do. Point back to the question the Lord asks: is this day a delight, and is it turning me toward Him?
  • Visitors and new members: explain fast Sunday and fast offerings in a sentence or two, show references on the shared screen, and never ask anyone to read aloud without checking first.

The 25-minute plan25 min + bonus

Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Each “On the screen” line is what the class sees on a shared screen in Teach Mode in the Gospel Sparks app; on paper, read it aloud or write it on the board. On the web you can play Scripture Showdown from this page.

1. Hook

The Empty Plate

3 min

Opens with the familiar practice of fasting and asks what it is actually for.

  1. Hold up the empty dinner plate.
  2. SAY“On fast Sunday, this is what many of us have for breakfast and lunch. We go without.”
  3. Ask: “Be honest: when you fast, what are you usually thinking about?” Take two or three answers; hunger is a perfectly honest one.
  4. Ask: “If going without food isn’t the point by itself, what is the plate for?”
  5. SAY“Isaiah 58 is the Lord’s own answer to that question.”

On the screen: 🍽️ When you fast, what are you usually thinking about?

No supplies? Do this instead

Instead of: An empty dinner plate (for the hook)

Two Meals Missed

  1. SAY“On fast Sunday, many of us skip breakfast and lunch.”
  2. Ask: “Be honest: when you fast, what are you usually thinking about?” Take two or three answers.
  3. Ask: “If going without food isn’t the point by itself, what is it for?”
  4. SAY“Isaiah 58 is the Lord’s own answer to that question.”
2. Story

Read It in Context: The Fast That I Have Chosen

6 min

Reads Isaiah 58 as a real conversation between frustrated worshippers and the Lord.

  1. Open Teach Mode to the scripture scene. The shared screen shows one scene at a time.
  2. Read each scene’s context yourself, then let the assigned voices read the verses. You read the Lord’s direct words; no one is assigned to speak as the Lord.
  3. Keep it moving: context, verses, next scene. Save comments for the discussion.
  4. After scene 6, let a few seconds of silence sit before moving on.

On the screen: 📯 Isaiah 58: “Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not?” · Follow along in Isaiah 58:1–14

3. Scripture

Find the Thens

4 min

Studies the promises of Isaiah 58:8–11 so class members see how the Lord answers a fast aimed at others.

  1. Put Isaiah 58:11 on the shared screen and read it slowly.
  2. SAY“With the person next to you, look at verses 8–10 and find every sentence that starts with ‘then.’ What comes right before each one?”
  3. Draw it out: when we lift burdens, then light, healing, answered prayer and guidance follow.
  4. Point to verse 9: the people complained that God didn’t notice; now He says, “Here I am.” Ask: “Why do you think serving others opens that door?”

On the screen: 🌿 Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. · Isaiah 58:8–11 · Find every “then.” What comes before it?

4. Talk it over

The Fast That I Have Chosen

6 min

Helps adults turn fasting and fast offerings outward, toward real burdens in their ward and world.

  1. Pick two or three questions; don’t try to cover all of them.
  2. Start the first question in pairs: one minute with a neighbor, then a few share with the room.
  3. Share President Henry B. Eyring’s words about fasting (in “From general conference” below) after the second or third question.
  4. Let silence work. Count to seven in your head before rescuing a question.
💬 Ask the class
  • Why do you think the people in verse 3 felt that God wasn’t noticing their fasts? Have you ever felt that way? (Talk with a neighbor first.)
  • Verses 6–7 list burdens, yokes, hunger, homelessness. What would those look like in our own ward and community?
  • How does a fast offering let a fast do what verses 6–7 describe?
  • Verse 7 says “hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” Who might we be hiding from, even without meaning to?
  • When has fasting for someone else changed your own heart?

On the screen: ⛓️ To loose the bands, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free. · Isaiah 58:6–7

5. Talk it over

Call the Sabbath a Delight

4 min

Applies the same principle to the Sabbath: a day turned toward the Lord becomes a delight rather than a list.

  1. Read Isaiah 58:13–14 again, or have a volunteer read it.
  2. Point out the pattern: “If thou… then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.”
  3. Ask one or two questions, then move to the testimony on time.
💬 Ask the class
  • What makes the Sabbath feel like a delight for you, and what makes it feel like a burden?
  • Verse 13 mentions our own ways, our own pleasure and our own words. Which of those three is hardest to set aside on Sunday?
  • How can the Sabbath and the fast both become ways of lifting someone else?

On the screen: 🕯️ Call the sabbath a delight… then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. · Isaiah 58:13–14

6. Testimony

Here I Am

2 min

Ends with testimony that the Lord answers and guides those who lift others, and a concrete invitation.

  1. Read Isaiah 58:9: “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.”
  2. Invite one person to share, in a sentence or two, a time the Lord answered when they were serving someone else.
  3. Bear a short testimony that Jesus Christ lifts burdens and invites us to help Him, and that He answers and guides those who do.
  4. Invite: “This week, choose one specific burden to help lift, and let your next fast be about that person.”

On the screen: 🙋 Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. · Isaiah 58:9 · This week: lift one specific burden.

7. Talk it over

The Spirit of the Lord Is upon Me

5 minBONUS

Shows the Savior announcing His mission in Isaiah’s words, the same mission Isaiah 58 invites us to share.

  1. Read Isaiah 61:1–3.
  2. Read Luke 4:16–21, where Jesus reads this passage in Nazareth and says, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
  3. Put Isaiah 58:6 and 61:1 side by side and point out how much they share.
  4. Ask one or two questions.
💬 Ask the class
  • What do you notice when you compare Isaiah 58:6 and Isaiah 61:1?
  • Isaiah 61:3 promises “beauty for ashes.” When have you seen the Savior make something beautiful out of ashes?
  • How does fasting let us take part in the Savior’s own mission?

On the screen: 📜 “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” · Isaiah 61:1–3 · Luke 4:16–21

8. Game

Scripture Showdown

5 minBONUS

A light, friendly review if you finish early.

  1. Split the room down the middle into two teams.
  2. Launch Scripture Showdown on your phone or tablet and read each question aloud.
  3. After each reveal, read the reference so people can mark it.
▶ Play Scripture Showdown on the web

On the screen: 🏆 Scripture Showdown: how well do you know Isaiah 58–66?

Read it together

The Fast That I Have Chosen

Isaiah 58:1–14 ↗

Reading parts

  • The ClassEveryone reads the people’s complaint together: the first half of Isaiah 58:3.
  • ReaderReads Isaiah 58:8–11, the promises that begin with “then.”
  • BuilderReads Isaiah 58:12, the repairer of the breach.

Scenes

  1. 📯 “Lift up thy voice like a trumpet”

    The Lord tells Isaiah to speak loudly about the people’s sins. The surprise is who they are: people who seek God every day and seem glad to worship.

    🎬 The teacher reads Isaiah 58:1–2.

  2. 🍽️ “Wherefore have we fasted?”

    The people have a complaint. They have gone hungry. They have humbled themselves. And nothing seems to happen.

    🎬 The Class reads the first half of Isaiah 58:3 together, ending with “thou takest no knowledge?”

  3. 👊 Fasting for strife and debate

    The Lord answers plainly. On their fast days they still pursue their own business, drive their workers and quarrel. They bow their heads like a bulrush, but nothing inside has changed.

    🎬 The teacher reads the rest of Isaiah 58:3, then verses 4–5.

  4. ⛓️ “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?”

    Here is the heart of the chapter. The fast the Lord chooses is aimed at other people’s burdens: bands loosed, yokes broken, bread shared, the homeless brought in.

    🎬 The teacher reads Isaiah 58:6–7. Pause and let the list land.

  5. 🌅 “Then shall thy light break forth”

    Now the promises pour out: light, healing, answered prayer, guidance, a soul like a watered garden, and a new name for people who rebuild what is broken.

    🎬 The Reader reads Isaiah 58:8–11. The Builder reads verse 12.

  6. 🕯️ “Call the sabbath a delight”

    The chapter ends by applying the same principle to the Sabbath: turn from your own pleasure to the Lord’s day, and you will find delight in Him.

    🎬 The teacher reads Isaiah 58:13–14. Let a few seconds of quiet follow.

Key verse

Isaiah 58:11 ↗
“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
In plain words: People who fast and serve the Lord’s way are promised His constant guidance, strength in dry seasons, and a life that keeps flowing like a spring that never runs dry.

More verses

Isaiah 58:6 ↗
“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?”
In plain words: The Lord’s kind of fast is aimed at freeing people from what weighs them down.
Isaiah 58:13 ↗
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:”
In plain words: The Sabbath becomes a delight when we set aside our own agenda for the day and give it to the Lord.
Isaiah 61:1 ↗
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;”
In plain words: Jesus read this verse in Nazareth and said it was about Him: He came to heal broken hearts and set people free.
Isaiah 63:9 ↗
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”
In plain words: When His people suffer, the Lord suffers with them, and in love He carries them.

Scripture Showdown6 questions

  1. In Isaiah 58:3, what did the people complain about?
    • A. The Lord didn’t notice their fasting
    • B. The temple was too far
    • C. The prophets were too harsh
    Show answer

    ✅ A. The Lord didn’t notice their fasting “Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?”

  2. According to Isaiah 58:6, the Lord’s fast is to undo what?
    • A. Old traditions
    • B. The heavy burdens
    • C. Broken promises
    Show answer

    ✅ B. The heavy burdens “To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free.”

  3. In Isaiah 58:11, those who fast the Lord’s way will be like what?
    • A. A cedar of Lebanon
    • B. A city on a hill
    • C. A watered garden
    Show answer

    ✅ C. A watered garden “Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

  4. What title does Isaiah 58:12 give those who rebuild?
    • A. The repairer of the breach
    • B. The keeper of the gate
    • C. The watchman on the tower
    Show answer

    ✅ A. The repairer of the breach “Thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”

  5. Where did Jesus read Isaiah 61 aloud and say it was fulfilled?
    • A. The temple in Jerusalem
    • B. The synagogue in Nazareth
    • C. A boat on Galilee
    Show answer

    ✅ B. The synagogue in Nazareth Luke 4:16–21. He read it in Nazareth, where He had been brought up.

  6. Finish Isaiah 60:1: “Arise, shine; for thy light…”
    • A. is near
    • B. is great
    • C. is come
    Show answer

    ✅ C. is come “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”

▶ Play Scripture ShowdownTeams take turns on one screen.

From general conference

“Just as the receipt of the blessing of your fast offering and mine can change hearts, so does fasting for the good of another.”

— President Henry B. Eyring, ““Is Not This the Fast That I Have Chosen?”,” April 2015

Share in The Fast That I Have Chosen, after the class talks about fast offerings.

Read the talk ↗

Songs

  • Did You Think to Pray? Hymns, no. 140

    A gentle hymn about bringing our needs to the Lord, a good fit for a lesson on fasting and prayer. Find it ↗

  • Come, Follow Me Hymns, no. 116

    A call to follow the Savior in action, not only in form, as Isaiah 58 asks. Find it ↗

This week’s invitation

Fast for Someone

Choose one specific burden this week, someone who is lonely, sick, out of work or overwhelmed, and do one thing to help lift it. Then make your next fast about that person, and give a generous fast offering.

Take it home

In Sunday School we read Isaiah 58, the Lord’s teaching on fasting and the Sabbath. The fast He chooses lifts other people’s burdens (Isaiah 58:6–7), and He promises that we will be “like a watered garden” (58:11). Take it home: as a family, pick one person to help this week and talk about what would make next Sunday a delight.

📝 After class

What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.

Got extra time?

🍇 Red in His Apparel · 5 min

  1. Read Isaiah 63:1–3: the Lord comes in red garments, having “trodden the winepress alone.”
  2. Read Doctrine and Covenants 133:46–51, where the Lord repeats this imagery about His Second Coming.
  3. Read Isaiah 63:9 and ask: “What does it mean to you that ‘in all their affliction he was afflicted’?”

🌄 Arise, Shine · 4 min

  1. Read Isaiah 60:1–3: darkness covers the earth, but the Lord’s glory rises on His people.
  2. Read Isaiah 60:19–20: the Lord Himself will be an everlasting light.
  3. Ask: “How can our light help others find their way to His?”

🐑 New Heavens and a New Earth · 4 min

  1. Read Isaiah 65:17–25, a picture of the Millennium.
  2. Read the tenth article of faith, which teaches that the earth will be renewed.
  3. Ask: “Which part of Isaiah’s picture do you most long for, and why?”

Sources

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.

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