Fasting!

March 28th, 2020| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

Fasting!

With the world teetering on the brink of an abyss from the pandemic of COVID-19, what can we do?

Of course, wash your hands, keep your distance, and, above all, trust your God. Of course!

How about a bit of fasting and prayer?

This week a seminary colleague drew my attention to the World Evangelical Alliance’s call for a “Global Day of Prayer and Fasting,” for today, Sunday, March 29, 2020.

Fasting and prayer are traditional spiritual disciplines that the church has engaged in since its inception. The first is a discipline of abstinence (giving up something: food); the second, a discipline of engagement (taking on something: prayer).

Prayer we all know about. But fasting?

Richard Foster once said:

In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples, fasting seems out of place, out of step with the times.”

Fasting is the voluntary abstinence from food for a limited time to reflect one’s genuine spiritual attitude of dependence upon God or distress before God, while devoting oneself to one’s relationship with God.

Jesus assumed his people would fast.

“And when you fast …. But when you fast….”
Matt 6:16–17

Not “if,” but “when.”

When we fast, we learn that God’s Word to us is life sustaining:

“’People shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4

Fasting therefore is feasting—feasting on the Lord and on doing his will.

Life is much more than meat; our belly is not our God.

… the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking …
Romans 14:17

Declared Dallas Willard:

Fasting teaches temperance or self-control and therefore teaches moderation and restraint with regard to all our fundamental drives. Since food has the pervasive place it does in our lives, the effects of fasting will be diffused throughout our personality.”

Biblical examples of fasting are many and varied: lasting one day or many days; lasting part of a day or over a mealtime; taking no food but only liquids or avoiding certain foods; etc.

One of the biblical reasons for fasting was to show distress and to request divine intervention.

So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer
and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
Daniel 9:3

In these days of the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc across the globe (641,000 cases and 30,000 deaths, as of this writing), fasting is, I believe, a worthy endeavor for us to undertake. To be in solidarity with all humanity, that bears the image of our God and, especially, with our brothers and sisters in Christ, suffering everywhere, with whom we share an eternal family.

We are distressed. We are grieved. We are afraid. We must fast!

And we look to God—all the time, but even more acutely and intensely in these days of crisis.

For He has satisfied the thirsty soul,
And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.
Psalm 107:9

The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want
of any good thing.
Psalm 34:10

And so, even as we fast (and pray), beseeching God’s long hand to save us, we also give thanks to God …

… who gives food to all flesh,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting!
Psalm 136:25

(For those interested in exploring ideas on fasting and prayer, the WEA has put out a guide: here.)

 

SOURCES
WEA

2 Comments

  1. Joe Pytleski April 6, 2020 at 11:52 am

    Just came off a two-day fast. It was tough, invigorating, and helpful, not only for perspective on coronavirus but on dealing with some underlying sin in my life I’m getting very tired of. Thank you for this reminder!

    Reply

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