Feasting on God

To piggyback on what I wrote last week, God promises wisdom. He promises to respond to our willingness to fast and pray. Jesus said,

When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:17-18).”

He’ll reward you. He’ll guide you. His guidance is less like a roadmap and more like turn-by-turn guidance. Do you know what I mean? Instead of God showing you the big picture, he prefers you trust him for your everyday decisions. So, you’re going along and God says, “Turn right.” So, you turn right and a little while later, God might say, “Turn left.” That’s how it’s often been in my life. He doesn’t unfold the future and show you the end from the beginning. It’s more turn-by-turn. The best part is, if you ignore his directions or miss a turn, what happens? “Recalculating!” He then gives you an alternative route to get you back on track. That willingness to guide your daily decision-making is a gift from God. It’s one reward of fasting. Fasting brings clarity. It puts you in a place where God can get at you. Do you fast and pray when you face a major decision? Do you fast and pray…

To nurture intimacy with God

Numerous passages in the Bible link fasting with intimacy with God, to a heart relationship with God. The prophet Joel wrote,

“Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning (Joel 2:12-13).”

There are lots of different fasts, many of which are mentioned in the Bible. There’s the normal fast, which is going without solid food for a period and only ingesting liquids. I should clarify when I say only liquids, I’m not talking about liquifying a steak or a chocolate cake and saying, “I’m not eating anything solid during my fast.” The normal fast is a fast where you go without solid food and only take in water or juice for a day, three days, a week or a month. I’ve done it twice and, depending on your health situation, I promise you will not die!

Then, there’s the partial fast. A partial fast means you choose to skip lunch for a week or eliminate breakfast and lunch, dedicating the time you would spend eating to prayer. You can cut out certain kinds of food. You might cut out caffeine, for example, because you’re totally addicted. Or you might decide to cut out sugar or go without meat. Certainly, for some people, fasting can be dangerous and is medically unwise. If you have certain health problems or are on certain kinds of medications, it could be life-threatening to fast. People with diabetes would not be wise to fast food. If you have doubts about that, please consult your doctor.

Fortunately, according to the Bible, there are lots of things you can fast from besides food. In 1 Corinthians 7:5, the Bible talks of married couples abstaining from sexual intimacy, by mutual consent, so they can pray. You might choose to fast from TV for a week or a month. You may choose to fast from videos or movies. You may choose to go on an entertainment fast because you see that you’re obsessed with, dominated by or drenched with entertainment. Even if you aren’t obsessed, you might want to take some of that time, which would normally be spent watching movies or TV or mindlessly surfing the web, and pray and read your Bible, especially if you’ve had a hard time developing a regular time with God. You might choose to fast from shopping. You might fast from using your credit card. The idea is, you give up something for a time and free yourself to pursue the Lord. It’s about taking the time you would spend doing something else and giving that time to being present with the One who is ever-present with you.

Now, why would anyone do that? Why would I give up food? Why would I voluntarily put myself through that? The primary purpose of fasting for a follower of Jesus is to gain more of God. As Richard Foster puts it,

“We fast in order to feast on God!” ~ Richard Foster

You may come to the recognition in your life that every pore of your being is stuffed full of entertainment, food, possessions and anxieties. And as a result, you feel dull to the voice of God, dull to the power of God, dull to God’s will and purpose for your life. You may feel spiritually flabby and lazy, not spiritually sharp and alive. So, in order to create a little more room for God, you deliberately abstain from things that are making you dull. Are you fasting in order to feast on God?