Disclaimer :) I am in no way saying either that you should or should not fast, or that any kind of fast is wrong or right. Certainly Scripture is filled with examples of God blessing His people who fast . Everything that follows comes from my personal journey and what I believe God has shown me.
Several years ago, a group of ladies I was meeting with decided to fast every Monday to seek God's guidance in ministry. I was excited to be a part of the group, but had concerns, because in the past, the physical symptoms I experienced while attempting to fast made it impossible to continue. So I asked, what is it about going without food that makes God more likely to hear and answer prayers?
They rushed to reassure me that fasting didn't mean fasting from all food or even any food. One lady entered the meeting sipping on a McDonald's Sweet Tea, saying that she was fasting from Starbucks coffee on Mondays. Another was going to fast from television on Mondays, but asked if it would be okay if she TiVO'd the Olympic event that was going to be televised that night and watched it Tuesday (is that cheating?). I decided to fast from food.
I really wanted to fast the right way, so I began researching for a good book to read on fasting. Here's a small sample of some titles I found:
"Fasting: The Private Discipline That Brings Public Reward"
"Fasting Journal: Your Personal 21-Day Guide to a Successful Fast"
"Intermittent Fasting (Just One Day Per Week): How I Went From Short and Fat To Short and Sexy!"
"The Amazing Power of Fasting--Discover the Ancient Secret to Effortless Health, Wealth and Unconditional Love"
"Fasting that Moves the Hand of God"
"Fasting from Alif to Yaa: A Day by Day Guide to Making the Most of Ramadhaan"
"FASTING - the Second Step to Eternal Life"
It is clear just from the titles that all fasting is not godly. But why would God be pleased if I deprive myself of food? Someone said God will know how sincere I am. Does He not already know my heart? Are my prayers really sharpened by fasting? Does a dull prayer not reach God's ears? Can God hear me better when I'm starving myself? Will He answer a prayer differently if I fast and if I don't? Is He manipulated or moved by a hunger strike?
With all these questions, I began journaling my fasting journey and my questions. I wrote some things that I knew weren't right as soon as I wrote them down. My own words kept coming back and haunting me.
Obviously I was off base, so I turned to Scripture to see exactly what and when and how God told His people to fast. I couldn't find a single verse where God tells His people to go without food, when to fast, for how long, and how to do it. But Scripture had much to say about a fast that pleases or displeases God. The Hebrew word for fasting is "tsum" which means basically to cover your mouth, or to go without food and/or drink, so we can assume that a Biblical fast is one where we go without food and/or drink. The ladies told me it was because they didn't have Starbucks or TV back then.
The book of Daniel describes that Daniel declined the king's rich food and asked for a very basic diet. This is often considered a Daniel fast, eating only veggies and grains. But rather than a true fast, wasn't Daniel merely abstaining from foods that would defile him, in other words, keeping kosher?
If "tsum" means cover your mouth, can there be a true partial fast? Perhaps there's a difference between abstaining and fasting? Maybe we abstain from bad habits to break them, or to discipline ourselves, or abstain from certain foods for our health, but that the true meaning of fasting is going without food?
Can it be that the practice and discipline of fasting was a Pharisaical Jewish tradition and not a commandment from God? Can it be that Jesus fasted because it was tradition? That when He told His disciples, "when you fast ..." He meant it more like, "when you go to the grocery store, buy milk." Not a "thou must" but a "since you will"?
My Q's (questions) found their answers in P's:
I. PURPOSE: PLEASE GOD
Isaiah 58:3-5 '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 and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself ? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
Jeremiah 14:12 Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague."
Zech 7:5 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?'
Clearly, all fasting does not please God. I reasoned that if God didn't command us when and how to fast, I could learn something by reading about the very first fast recorded in Scripture, by whom and why; and ultimately, why Jesus fasted. If anyone could fast in a way to please the Father, it is Jesus.
The first fast recorded was Moses in Exodus 34:2: "Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain."
Jesus' fast is Matt 4:1. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."
In each, God called them to the fast. Had I really been called by God to fast on Mondays, or did I just want to experience something amazing and be a part of the gang? Was it really God I was fasting for? So what pleases God about a fast?
Being changed or transformed by the fast.
Being changed or transformed by the fast.
Compare Isaiah 58:3-5 with verses 58:6-9 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer . . ."
See the before and after? The actions verbs that please God that come from fasting: to loose, untie, set free, break yokes, share food. And not for "only a day." Notice, too, that there is no mention at all of going without food. In fact, He says share your food.
Again, compare the "before" of Zechariah 7:5 with the "after" in verses 8-10: "And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
In Exodus 34:29 we learn that Moses was transformed physically. He was so radiant from his fast and His time spent with God that he had to wear a veil.
Because Jesus was and is always perfect, we can't exactly say that Jesus as a man was transformed, but we do see that His life on earth, His ministry on earth, was changed from that moment forward.
Our goal is to fast in a way which pleases God, not to please self. Consider all the book titles that I mentioned previously. Who is the focal point of those fasts? Self.
So from these Scriptures, we have a few principles about a fast that pleases God:
1) God calls or invites us to fast
2) A fast for God, a fast chosen by God 3) One that changes us. It is transforming.
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