I once used to reject fasting as starvation, as I often ended up spending the hours without prayer and without food. I used to tell myself that unless I am also able to pray while I am abstaining from food, I am not fasting but merely starving. I had probably considered Isa 58:3,4 - "'Why have we fasted', they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?' ‘Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please . . . You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high'" - while coming to this conclusion. Hence, over time, I stopped fasting. But today, I begin to see that fasting by itself is a spiritual exercise just as praying is.
I now see Isa 58:3,4 not in isolation but within the context of the whole chapter. God is not displeased about the fact that they carried on their work while fasting. Rather he is displeased about the fact that their hearts were not in right alignment with him. In fact, their hearts were set all out against his tenets of justice. Their fasts were acts of hypocrisy, hoping to please God with their outwardly righteous acts while their hearts were far from him. They hoped to impress God and keep his eyes away from their quarreling and exploitation, so he could bless them. But our God is a flaming fire who examines our heart and searches our soul. He therefore called their bluff.
Just as prayer itself may be offered either sincerely where one is fully focused on God or lightly without much thought to what is being said and to who it is being said, a fast too may be offered sincerely to God or offered without any thought of God. The fact that one is working while fasting should not make it inappropriate. The human mind is capable of doing several things together and over time one should be able to learn to focus on God even in the midst of work, especially when he is fasting. Charles Spurgeon writes on Exclamatory Prayer in his book The Power in Prayer, "The mind can be praying while it is studying. It can be looking up to God while it is talking to man. One hand can be held up to receive supplies from God while the other hand is dealing out the same supplies that He is pleased to give." Just as we do not advise people to stop praying because they do not pray the right way when they begin to, but rather to grow in prayer by focusing their thoughts on God, even so, a weak attempt at fasting should not be discouraged but one should rather be encouraged to make his fasting more meaningful and effective.
How is a fast that one offers in the midst of a busy day, an act of sacrifice? To understand it, let us first look at what any act of sacrifice to the Lord signifies and accomplishes – be it prayer or praise.
Firstly, we honor God with our sacrifices. Pro 3:9 tells us to “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops". In Heb 13:15, Paul exhorts us to “continually offer to God a sacrifice of Praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name”. Just as we honor God, when we do not take the firstfruits for ourselves, and instead consecrate them for God, we honor God when we forego what is by default ours. In India, when we have guests at home and do not have enough cots for everyone, we honor the guests by giving them the cots for a good night’s rest and settling on mats on the floor ourselves. In the same way, when we give away the food that is rightfully ours, to focus on the food from heaven, we honor God. It is not that God is honored because he has the firstfruits; God is honored by our giving hearts.
Secondly, we humble ourselves before God. Ezra tells us that when he had to lead a large group from Babylon to Israel, he was ashamed to ask the King for soldiers and horsemen to protect them from enemies on the Road, and instead chose to ask God for a safe journey (Ezra 8:21). There was a great hazard on the way and he needed protection. He could have deceived himself by thinking that the King's supply will make him self-sufficient. But he chose to humble himself before God through fasting, together with the group he was leading, knowing well that it was not wise to trust man. By going to the Lord fasting, we declare that we are not self-sufficient in ourselves and the resources at our hands, and we are totally dependent on the Lord. Fasting expresses humility, self-denial and submission to God.
Thirdly, we express our regret over our sins. We find Samuel leading the Israelites to fast and mourn for their sins, and he himself interceded for them and cried out to the Lord on their behalf (I Sam 7:5-9). Elsewhere in Neh 9:1-3, we find the Israelites who had returned from Babylon, having revived worship in the temple and rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, assembling to fast wearing sackcloth and with dust on their heads, to confess their sins and the wickedness of their fathers.
Fourthly, we show repentance and make way for God to change his declared intention of judgment. When David sinned and God warned him through Nathan that he will have to pay with the life of his new-born son, he fasted and spent the nights lying on the ground until the child died. He explained it later, “When the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ”(II Sam 12:22) We find elsewhere how Ahab tore his clothes, fasted, lay in sackcloth and went around meekly, when he was warned by Elijah of the coming judgment on him (I Kings 21:17-27). The Lord took notice and told Elijah, “Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day”.
We know that it is important to feed on His Word and listen to what He has to tell us. We know that it is important to seek God's presence and speak to Him in prayer. Therefore, irrespective of where we stand with regard to reading and meditating the Scriptures and praying, we always yearn to grow in these disciplines. Let us realize that Fasting too, is a very important discipline that the Lord has made available for us to grow closer to him, and begin to exercise it in our spiritual walk with God.
I now see Isa 58:3,4 not in isolation but within the context of the whole chapter. God is not displeased about the fact that they carried on their work while fasting. Rather he is displeased about the fact that their hearts were not in right alignment with him. In fact, their hearts were set all out against his tenets of justice. Their fasts were acts of hypocrisy, hoping to please God with their outwardly righteous acts while their hearts were far from him. They hoped to impress God and keep his eyes away from their quarreling and exploitation, so he could bless them. But our God is a flaming fire who examines our heart and searches our soul. He therefore called their bluff.
Just as prayer itself may be offered either sincerely where one is fully focused on God or lightly without much thought to what is being said and to who it is being said, a fast too may be offered sincerely to God or offered without any thought of God. The fact that one is working while fasting should not make it inappropriate. The human mind is capable of doing several things together and over time one should be able to learn to focus on God even in the midst of work, especially when he is fasting. Charles Spurgeon writes on Exclamatory Prayer in his book The Power in Prayer, "The mind can be praying while it is studying. It can be looking up to God while it is talking to man. One hand can be held up to receive supplies from God while the other hand is dealing out the same supplies that He is pleased to give." Just as we do not advise people to stop praying because they do not pray the right way when they begin to, but rather to grow in prayer by focusing their thoughts on God, even so, a weak attempt at fasting should not be discouraged but one should rather be encouraged to make his fasting more meaningful and effective.
How is a fast that one offers in the midst of a busy day, an act of sacrifice? To understand it, let us first look at what any act of sacrifice to the Lord signifies and accomplishes – be it prayer or praise.
Firstly, we honor God with our sacrifices. Pro 3:9 tells us to “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops". In Heb 13:15, Paul exhorts us to “continually offer to God a sacrifice of Praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name”. Just as we honor God, when we do not take the firstfruits for ourselves, and instead consecrate them for God, we honor God when we forego what is by default ours. In India, when we have guests at home and do not have enough cots for everyone, we honor the guests by giving them the cots for a good night’s rest and settling on mats on the floor ourselves. In the same way, when we give away the food that is rightfully ours, to focus on the food from heaven, we honor God. It is not that God is honored because he has the firstfruits; God is honored by our giving hearts.
Secondly, we humble ourselves before God. Ezra tells us that when he had to lead a large group from Babylon to Israel, he was ashamed to ask the King for soldiers and horsemen to protect them from enemies on the Road, and instead chose to ask God for a safe journey (Ezra 8:21). There was a great hazard on the way and he needed protection. He could have deceived himself by thinking that the King's supply will make him self-sufficient. But he chose to humble himself before God through fasting, together with the group he was leading, knowing well that it was not wise to trust man. By going to the Lord fasting, we declare that we are not self-sufficient in ourselves and the resources at our hands, and we are totally dependent on the Lord. Fasting expresses humility, self-denial and submission to God.
Thirdly, we express our regret over our sins. We find Samuel leading the Israelites to fast and mourn for their sins, and he himself interceded for them and cried out to the Lord on their behalf (I Sam 7:5-9). Elsewhere in Neh 9:1-3, we find the Israelites who had returned from Babylon, having revived worship in the temple and rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, assembling to fast wearing sackcloth and with dust on their heads, to confess their sins and the wickedness of their fathers.
Fourthly, we show repentance and make way for God to change his declared intention of judgment. When David sinned and God warned him through Nathan that he will have to pay with the life of his new-born son, he fasted and spent the nights lying on the ground until the child died. He explained it later, “When the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ”(II Sam 12:22) We find elsewhere how Ahab tore his clothes, fasted, lay in sackcloth and went around meekly, when he was warned by Elijah of the coming judgment on him (I Kings 21:17-27). The Lord took notice and told Elijah, “Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day”.
We know that it is important to feed on His Word and listen to what He has to tell us. We know that it is important to seek God's presence and speak to Him in prayer. Therefore, irrespective of where we stand with regard to reading and meditating the Scriptures and praying, we always yearn to grow in these disciplines. Let us realize that Fasting too, is a very important discipline that the Lord has made available for us to grow closer to him, and begin to exercise it in our spiritual walk with God.
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