Today, it’s more common to hear about people fasting for non-religious reasons than for religious ones. The 5:2 diet, the 16/8 method and the warrior diet all incorporate fasts with an aim to weight loss and improved health. But the popularity of the methods may outweigh the actual research of their health benefits. Regardless, it probably says something about our culture that people are more apt to fast for their body than they are for their soul. In the Bible, fasting simply involves voluntarily going without food for a day or more in order to set aside time for prayer and express your hunger for God and desperation to hear from Him. If you haven’t been introduced to biblical fasting, or if it’s been a while since you fasted yourself, let me give you some encouragements from Scripture.
1. Don’t fast to impress God or other people.
Many Christians, today, are suspicious of fasting. We’ve heard Paul’s warning against thinking that fasting earns us points with God. In 1 Corinthians 8:8, he writes, “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” But we often forget that Paul, himself, fasted (Acts 14:23). We’re also suspicious of fasting because we’ve heard about the fasting of the Pharisees in New Testament times and we don’t want to be like them. Many of them fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), typically on Mondays and Thursdays, and they felt holier-than-thou as a result! Jesus warned about people who fasted in order to “be seen by others” (Matthew 6:16). They would wander around looking worn out and exhausted so people would applaud them for their spiritual sacrifice. Jesus warned that people’s applause was the only reward they would get because God saw through their hypocrisy. But we often forget that Jesus, Himself, fasted and even when He warned against the wrong attitude in fasting, He said, “And when you fast …” (Matthew 6:16) not “If you fast …”
2. Fast to express your desperation to God.
While the Bible warns against fasting to impress God or impress other people with how spiritual you are, it encourages fasting as a way of expressing your desperation to God. David fasts, for instance, when he learns of someone with a great sickness (Psalm 35:13). Esther asked people to join her in a 3-day fast before she went to intercede for them before the king (Esther 4:16). The prophet Joel called the people to fast in response to a great plague that had come upon them (Joel 1:14, 2:15). In each case, when people found themselves in urgent need of God’s help, they fasted from food and set aside time to pray to express their desperation to God and dependence upon Him.
3. Fast to seek God’s guidance and direction.
Fasting is also common in Scripture when people are seeking God’s direction. Nehemiah, for instance, fasts and prays when he learns of the desperate situation facing the Israelites who had returned to their land from exile. He writes, “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). Not surprisingly, God responds to his prayer and gives him both a plan and the resources to make a difference. The church at Antioch also prayed and fasted when they commissioned Paul and Barnabas as missionaries (Acts 13:2). And when Paul and Barnabas established churches and appointed elders, “they committed them to the Lord,” with prayer and fasting. Fasting adds urgency to our prayers, particularly when we’re dedicating plans or people to Him.
To be honest, I’m a lot better at feasting than I am at fasting. And when I have practiced fasting, it’s never been a 40-day fast like Jesus and Moses or even the 3-day fast that Esther called her people to. But when I do go without food for a day and commit those mealtimes to extended prayer, it helps me to express to God how much I want to hear Him and how eager I am to see Him act.
Perhaps because of our society’s abundance problem, I think we find it easier to add things to our full lives than we do to take anything away. That’s why I feel that fasting is more important than ever for us to recapture. Express your hunger for God and your conviction that “man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4). And as you do, remember the invitation and promise of Joel 2:12-13:
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love …
In awe of Him,
Paul
