We live in a day and an age in which “fasting” is “en vogue.” I cannot tell you how many times I have scrolled through social media and have been encouraged by ads to participate in intermittent fasting. Multiple times through a single scrolling session (which I really don’t do that much—I have better things to do with my time) I will see an ad or an encouragement to fast.
The curious thing is that these fasts—which I have every reason to believe are good things, and would likely benefit my health—have nothing to do with God, or with my faith. It’s a purely physical thing.
I have fasted for up to a week on at least three occasions. Admittedly, the first time, when I was in college, I think I was trying to convince God to pay more attention to my prayers. The other times, however, I was not bargaining with God as much as I was clearing my calendar during mealtimes to pray and focus my attention on God.
I recall a day during my first year in Seminary when a friend suggested that he and I set aside a day to fast. We did not eat as all of our friends did; we met in my dorm room and prayed together. I recall that time—now 45 years later!—as time when I felt drawn closer to God.
Those week-long fasts helped me to see what was controlling my life, and allowed me the freedom to repent, to turn to God, and to listen to the Lord in new ways.
I don’t know what you fasted from last week—or if you even participated in Peachtree’s day of fasting. (I am reminded of the time I was at a mission conference, and the entire conference body—about 15,000 college students—agreed to fast during the lunch hour so that the funds that would have been used for the meal could be donated to a mission organization. I went to the vending area to get a Coke and laughed out loud when I saw the snack machines cleaned out!)
To practice simplicity by fasting from something (food, drink, TV, cell phone, etc.) frees our lives to discover the Lord who is waiting for us to clear the way for Him to get through to us. Maybe we need to fast a bit more often?