What is Biblical Fasting?
At the core, Biblical fasting is about humbling ourselves, submitting ourselves, and admitting that we are
Biblical Fasting is Not About Food! The Cheeseburger is not the enemy! (HT stephen-oung on FlickrCC)
Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. – Deuteronomy 8:2-5
We find in Matthew 4:4 Jesus quoting this passage. In this passage, Jesus had been led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God, to be tempted by Satan. Here, we find Satan telling Jesus to command stones to turn into bread. Jesus, having been fasting for forty days, was undoubtedly hungry! In fact, the Bible goes so far as to tell us so in Matthew 4:1. If you’ve ever gone extended periods of time without any sort of food, you know what that is like! For most of us in the Western World, we rarely go a day without eating something. In fact, many of the most popular diets have us consuming some sort of meal every three to four hours. This alone tells me that our priorities have become out of alignment.
Again, we join Jesus for a private moment with His Disciples. This instance seems to me to be sort of like a side conversation in a larger story. Sort of like a sideline discussion at the Super Bowl; a coach talking with his players. Join the discussion here in John 4:
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” – John 4:31-35
Biblical Fasting: It is not just about food
Central to our discussion on fasting is the idea of food and sustenance. Here, Jesus gives the Disciples (and us) an important lesson on what priority food should really be. Jesus had just had one of the most important discussions in the entirety of the Gospels, breeching enemy lines by speaking with a Samaritan, much less a woman. And the Disciples are worried that Jesus hasn’t had any bread. The Samaritan Woman went back to her town, telling everyone about the Man she met at the well and then all those people believed in Jesus as the Savior. Enter the Disciples, asking Jesus about food. The response Jesus gave seems fitting here: “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” They do appear to be pretty clueless at this moment. It is as if Jesus is saying, “Look up! Look at all the people! If you can’t see that these people are more important than some bread and water, then you have missed the boat! Engage in the harvest of people, join God in his mission and you’ll never hunger!”
So then, how should we practice Biblical fasting? Fasting really is pretty easy. Stop eating. Give up food for a period of time so that you can remember who really sustains you. Submit yourself to God, humbly asking to simply see his face. Kneel before the foot of the Cross, bringing your life in submission to the meaning and mission of the Cross, bathing in the blood of Jesus.
Probably a more important question is why we should practice biblical fasting. We should fast primarily because we have become separated from God. By that I mean that our hearts, minds, attitudes, ambitions, and entitlements have become misaligned with God’s purposes. We need to join Jesus in his feast, to do the will of Him who sent us and finish His work. We need to enter into Biblical fasting with the mindset of not what we can petition God for, but to humble ourselves and remind ourselves of what our purposes are. Fasting, at its simplest form, really is abstaining from food for a period of time, engaging in prayer, and feasting on communion with God.
While it has seemingly little to do with fasting, one of the most poignant reminders of why we do basically everything in the Christian life is found in Matthew 6:33:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Basically, before we do anything at all, fasting or otherwise, we need to first and foremost seek His Kingdom and Righteousness. We tend to read this passage and focus on the second half of the verse. We are so focused on getting to the goal, to receiving the prize, that we really forget the how. Seek first his kingdom and righteousness. Really, we should stop there. Our entire reason for living, doing, breathing is really found in this section. We are to seek first, foremost, primarily, only, his kingdom and righteousness…the rest is up to him. He will sustain us; he will provide for us, he will make sure we aren’t hungry. Now, to be clear, it may not be feasts of lobster tail and filet mignon, but we will not die of starvation! We may not live in a mansion, but we will have shelter. We may not have a Mercedes Benz in the driveway that carries us to work, but we still have two feet. This verse is one of the most perverted in all of Scripture. We get it twisted by thinking that if we cling to God, do the things that he says, and basically “be good people”, that God will give us some earthly riches. Not always true!
To bring this all together let me give you the “Tony’s Notes” on Fasting. Fasting is abstaining from food in order to humble ourselves before God. We fast because we quickly forget that nothing but the hand of God can sustain us. We fast in order to remind ourselves of this and reaffirm to God our commitments to him alone. I’m not trying to oversimplify fasting into a sentence, but simply trying to convey that fasting is not as complicated as we have made it out to be.
On a side note: There are many different ways to fast with different reasons for each. Over the course of the next few days, I’ll be discussing different aspects of fasting, both from a spiritual and physical standpoint. If there is something in particular that you would like to discuss, please feel free to reach out and let me know!
To See my related posts on Biblical Fasting, see these related posts:
