On March 7, our church will launch its annual Week of Prayer. The Elders and Deacons are encouraging the congregation to fast the final three days of this week-long prayer watch.
Why? Because fasting is a biblical way of reminding ourselves that God is the center of the universe, not man. If God is truly our number-one love, then we will exalt and desire the Giver above His gifts. Consider the following Scriptures:
- Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. - Psalm 73:25
- As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. - Psalm 42:1
- I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. - Job 23:12
- Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. - Matthew 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4; Deut. 8:3
That final statement was made by Jesus at the end of a forty-day fast in the wilderness. Jesus did not command His followers to fast; He simply assumed they would. (In giving them instructions He said, "When you fast..." not "If you fast...." - see Matthew 6:16-18).
There is a danger in fasting. The Word of God warns us about people who "require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth" (1 Tim. 4:3). The fact is, "food will not commend us to God' we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat" (1 Cor. 8:8). God accepts us on account of His own mercy and grace, on the merits of His Son Jesus Christ. Whatever we do in relation to food or drink is done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). It is an act of worship, God accepts us solely on the merits of His Son, Jesus Christ. In his outstanding book, A Hunger for God, John Piper points out,
In the heart of the saint, both eating and fasting are worship. Both magnify Christ. Both send the heart - grateful and yearning - to the Giver. Each has its appointed place, and each has its danger. The danger of eating is that we fall in love with the gift; the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and glory in our willpower.
Earlier in this same book (on the very first page, actually) Piper notes, "The discipline of self-denial is fraught with dangers - perhaps only surpassed by the dangers of indulgence."
Frankly, I believe that's the extremity toward which most of us gravitate ... by far. We are slaves to our appetites. Paul warns us about those "whose god is their belly" (Phil. 3:19). As Piper quips, "The stomach is sovereign."
I understand that the point of fasting is not to diet; it's to die - to self! Food itself is not the issue per se; it's our fleshly appetite. An idol is anything that becomes a substitute for God. An idol can range anywhere from sexual pleasure to a T.V. show to a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship to making money to seeking the praise and approval of others.
There is such a thing as true and false fasting. Read Isaiah 58. If you abstain from food while clinging to the other idols of your heart, then forget it. You might as well go ahead and gorge yourself; your fasting isn't acceptable to God anyway. But if you abstain from food as an expression of your hunger for God, desiring His righteousness, His presence, His power in your life - if you "take delight in the Lord," He will "make you ride on the heights of the earth" (Isa. 58:14). He will prove Himself to be the greatest pleasure that you can possibly experience.
So while it may be appropriate to abstain from sex, or a certain T.V. show, or your favorite hobby for the sake of seeking the Lord, there's nothing like abstaining from food that brings our fleshly cravings to the surface. This is a point that Arthur Wallis stresses strongly in his classic book, God's Chosen Fast. Without mincing words, Wallis writes:
When people do not like the plain, literal meaning of something in the Bible they are tempted to spiritualize it and so rob it of its potency. Once the truth becomes nebulous it ceases to have any practical implication. They have blunted its edge; it can no longer cut. In the main this is what the professing Church, and evangelicals in particular, have tended to do with the biblical teaching on fasting."To fast," we are told, "is not simply nor necessarily to abstain from food, but from anything that hinders our communion with God." Or they say, "Fasting means to do without, to practice self-denial." We have only to widen the meaning enough and the cutting edge has gone.It is true that there are many things besides food that may hinder our communion with God. It is also true that we need to practice self-denial in general. The fact still remains that "to fast" means primarily "not to eat."
John Wesley declared, "Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have disregarded it." As was stated earlier, the prevalent error of our day is not self-denial but self-indulgence. We tend to feast and play rather than to fast and pray.
But I also believe that God in His grace brings us to the place where we get "fed up" (pun intended) with the junk food of this world and long to feast in fellowship with Him. As Wallis states so eloquently,
... God be praised, a new day is dawning, and a new thirst for the Spirit is beginning to awake the slumbering Church. It is a day of spiritual renewal. There are searchings and inquirings, burdens and longings on every hand. The heart-cry of the Church is ascending to heaven. The Spirit of God is stirring.
Is He stirring in your heart? I hope so. I pray that you will be so hungry for God that you will say to Him, through fasting, "God, this is how badly I want You; this is how badly I need You! I do desire You more than my necessary food! Come to me, Lord, and fill Me with the fullness of Yourself!"