When You Fast
Is fasting part of your spiritual journey?
Verse of the Day
‘But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.’
Today’s Devotional
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18)
Jesus is assuming that we are going to fast, which is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. He doesn’t say “if you fast”, nor does He say that we are commanded to fast. He simply says “when you fast” and then gives us some instructions. So…are we fasting? How are we going to obey Jesus’s teaching about HOW to fast if we are not fasting at all?
Andrew Murray wrote, “Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible. Fasting is the other hand, the one with which we let go of the visible. In nothing are we more closely connected with the world of sense than in our need and enjoyment of food. It was with fruit that the woman and man were tempted and fell in the Garden of Eden. It was with bread that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. But He triumphed with fasting.” Then later he said, “Prayer is reaching out for God and the unseen. Fasting is letting go of everything that can be seen and touched.”
There are many types of fasting, but the biblical example seems to always be abstaining from food. When our church asked us to fast, most of the people I talked to did not abstain from food. Some chose to refrain from all screens, some from specific things (like ESPN), some from social media. In non-food fasting, the point is to remove something we will miss, and in each moment of missing what has been removed, we will be reminded of God and we will then go to Him more often than we would otherwise. In any kind of fasting, the purpose, point, and focus should always be God Himself.
Since fasting is not something I do regularly, and since Jesus assumes that we will fast, I was curious how prevalent this practice is in the Bible. In a very quick search, I found fasting mentioned in 17 of the Old Testament books and 6 books in the New Testament. That’s…a lot.
I want more of God. I want less of me. Richard Foster teaches that fasting, more than any other spiritual discipline, will reveal the things that control us. Jesus is teaching us that when we engage in a spiritual practice, like fasting, it should not be evident to anyone other than the Father.
For today, I will share with you the questions I am asking myself and invite you to answer them for yourself.
-Why am I not fasting?
-What scares me about fasting?
-Am I willing to incorporate something into my life that is clearly modeled in the Bible?
-Am I willing to confront my “need” for food in order to deepen my awareness of my need for God?
-Do I want more of God? What lengths am I willing to go to for that?
-If I choose to fast, what will that look like?
-If I fast, how can I obey Jesus’s teaching about how to go about it?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
If you are not fasting, why?
What scares you about fasting?
Are you willing to incorporate something into your life that is clearly modeled in the Bible?
Are you willing to confront your “need” for food in order to deepen your awareness of your need for God?
Do you want more of God? What lengths are you willing to go to for that?
If you choose to fast, what will that look like?
If you fast, how can you obey Jesus’s teaching about how to go about it?