CAUTION ON FASTING

 

Always remember that your fasting is a privilege, not an obligation. It is the acceptance of a divine invitation to experience His grace in a special way. If you can’t fast with the faith that you will find more satisfaction and joy at that time than in delaying a meal, then freely eat in faith first (Romans 14:22-23). But may we yearn for days when God will cause us to crave the spiritual banquet of worship more than any banquet or feast.

Fasting must always have a spiritual purpose—a God-centred purpose, not a self-centred one—for the Lord to bless our fast. Thoughts of food must prompt thoughts for God. They must not distract us, but instead remind us of our purpose. Rather than focusing the mind on food, we should use the desire to eat as a reminder to pray and to reconsider our purpose of bringing glory to God whether we eat or drink or what we do.

There is no doubt that God has often crowned fasting with extraordinary blessings. Biblical, historical, and contemporary testimonies bear witness to God’s delight in providing unusual blessings to those who fast. But we should be careful not to have what Martyn Lloyd- Jones called a mechanical view of fasting. We cannot manipulate God to do our bidding by fasting any more than we can by any other means.

As with prayer, we fast in hope that by His grace God will bless us as we desire. When our fast is rightly motivated, we can be sure that God will bless us, but perhaps not in the way we wanted.

Again David Smith has captured it rightly when he says;

"Any blessing which is bestowed by the Father upon His undeserving children must be considered to be an act of grace. We fail to appreciate the mercy of the Lord if we think that by our doing something we have forced (or even coerced) God to grant that blessing which we have asked for. . . . 

All of our fasting, therefore, must be on this basis; we should use it as a scriptural means whereby we are melted into a more complete realization of the purposes of the Lord in our life, church, community, and nation."

Fasting should always have a purpose, and we must learn to elevate His purposes over ours. God-centered fasting is taught in Zechariah 7:5. A delegation was sent from Bethel to Jerusalem to inquire of the Lord. At issue was the continuance of two fasts the Jews had held to commemorate the destruction of the Temple. For seventy years they had kept these fasts in the fifth and seventh months, but now they wondered if God wanted them to continue the fasts since they had been restored to their land and were building a new temple. The Lord’s response to them was,

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?’”

In reality, these fasts had become empty rituals, not God-centred experiences. Matthew Henry’s comments on this passage are useful for our own fasting.

Let them all take notice that, whereas they thought they had made God very much their Debtor by these fasts, they were much mistaken, for they were not acceptable to Him, unless they had been observed in a better manner, and to better purpose. . . . They were not chargeable with omission or neglect of the duty, . . . but they had not managed [it] aright. . . . They had not an eye to God in their fasting. . . . When this was wanting, every fast was but a jest. To fast, and not to fast to God, was to mock Him and provoke Him, and could not be pleasing to Him. . . . If the solemnities of our fasting, though frequent, long, and severe, do not serve to put an edge upon devout affections, to quicken prayer, to increase Godly sorrow, and to alter the temper of our minds, and the course of our lives, for the better, they do not at all answer the intention, and God will not accept them as performed to Him.15

Before we fast we must have a purpose, a God-centered purpose. But even at our best we do not deserve what we desire, nor can we force God’s hand. Having said that, however, let’s balance that truth with the incontestable promise of Jesus in Matthew 6:17-18,

“But when you fast, … and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

God will bless a biblical fast by any of His children. And whether or not you receive the blessing you hope for, one thing is sure: If you knew what God knew, you would give yourself the identical blessing that He does. And none of His rewards is worthless. Christians should always remember that God is ‘him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.’ (Eph 3:20).

What is our understanding of prayer? What is prayer? John Bunyan provides a very clear answer,

Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.

The power of prayer is highlighted in the Scriptures throughout. It is a great shame that we do not pray as we ought. James says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16). Do we doubt the power of prayer? Is this why we do not pray? James encourages us to consider the example of the prophet Elijah and his prayer. First of all, James emphasis that Elijah was like us in every way – he was a man with nature like ours! There was nothing extraordinary about Elijah except His God, and He is our God and Father too.

Elijah prayed fervently, that it might not rain and there was no rain for three and half years. Then Elijah prayed again, and there was rain enough to make crops produce sufficient crop. The key thing is that Elijah prayed and again! Are we praying?

And James’s point is as plain as noonday. Whatever life brings our way – whether suffering or joy, ours is to pray and praise. And even when we are too weak to pray, we should invite others (and especially our pastors) to come and pray with us. Whether we are sick or sinful, the solution is in confidently approaching the throne of grace. After all, by the efficacy of the work of Christ, we are assured of mercy and grace in times of need (Heb 4:16). Therefore, let’s make sure we do not forget to pray. And let’s make sure that our praying is not merely mouthing words, saying prayers, but a fervently seeking after the heart of God, sometimes with fasting. Only then do we truly pray, and only then do we experience our own great things.

Our prayer life may be greatly limited or even hindered by the finite answers we seek and desire. Our God is able to do more than what we desire and ask. Our faith should always rest on Him to do His will. His will for us is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2). Let us go the way our Master went – “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And this is what He taught us – “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10)