In January, we’re going to start out the year with a time of fasting and prayer at Calvary, the church in which I pastor. To be truthful, I’m not very good at fasting. Don’t get me wrong. It is something I strongly believe in. But I always need a push to do it. When I fast, my body gets cold (I feel like my feet are freezing!). My spirit gets grumpy. And I think about food a lot. It’s not a pretty picture.
On the other hand, I do sense that something important and good happens when I fast. There are tons of reasons to do it, but here are four that come to mind right off the top:
1. We fast because Jesus assumed that we would.
In the discussion Jesus had with his detractors about why his followers were not fasting, he pointed out the (obvious) truth that the guests at a wedding never fast when the members of the wedding party are present. Jesus compares himself to the bridegroom and makes the point: “They’re not going to fast when I’m around – it’s celebration time right now! But there’s a time coming when I won’t be here… THEN they’ll fast.” (see Matthew 9:14-15)
What I need to remember is that Jesus’ THEN is my NOW. The bridegroom is away. The times are dark. The need is compelling. Fasting is my most appropriate response.
2. We fast because God’s people have always fasted at critical junctures in history.
When the entire Jewish population was being threatened by the Jew-hater, Haman, Esther was compelled by her uncle to go to the King and plead for the lives of her people. The whole future of the Jewish people hung in the balance. Esther’s response to her uncle: “”Go and get all the Jews living in Susa together. Fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, either day or night. I and my maids will fast with you. If you will do this, I’ll go to the king, even though it’s forbidden. If I die, I die.” (see Esther 4:16)
In the end, her people were spared. But the spiritual ground for the saving act of God was prepared through fasting. When I observe the spiritual climate of the city of Seattle, I’d say that our need for a saving act of God is pretty dramatic.
3. We fast because the spiritual battle we are facing can only be won with spiritual weapons.
I’m not a huge “spiritual warfare” guy. I tend to have a pretty gut-level reaction to people who look for demons behind every bush (where did that metaphor come from, anyway?). But the longer I observe the human condition, the more convinced I am of how literal the scripture is when Paul expressed: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4, emphasis mine)
Our calling as a church is to help people find & follow Jesus Christ. But they’ll never find or follow him if they can’t see him. And they won’t see him unless God himself breaks through the darkness that blinds them. I can share (or argue) till I’m blue in the face, but the message won’t get through until God’s light shines in. I think fasting “clears the heavens” in a metaphorical and literal way.
4. We fast because it trains our appetites for God.
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes get amazed at how focused my appetites are toward things that aren’t very important at all. One of the parishioners brought in a big can of Almond Rocca (“Brown and Haley make them daily!”). Every since I was a kid, those magical confections wrapped in golden foil (and native to the Northwest, I proudly add) have been my Christmas delight. The problem is, as long as they’re sitting there in the staff kitchen, I can’t keep away from them. I’ll go in, sneak out a handful of 5-6 little treats and stow them in my desk drawer. But within the hour, they’re gone and I’m going back for more!
My appetites are too easily steered in directions that are unprofitable at best and harmful at worst. But when I fast, my focus is turned. I begin to echo with the Psalmist:
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
I think we all need a little appetite training, don’t you?
So I’m hoping you’ll join me this January for a time of prayer and fasting. In our church we’ll fast for three days. Some churches would look at that and call us wimps… perhaps we are. But we’re making a stab at making a difference in the real world. And that’s a good thing.
Steve Pecota - a Pastor in Seattle 