Fasting Is Not for Super-Saints
One day, Kathy Cash’s husband, of Dallas, Texas, announced to the family that he was going to fast and pray. Ginny, their 5-year-old, had recently learned that fasting meant not eating.
“No!” she shouted. “You can’t fast! You’ll die!”
Her dad carefully explained that many men and women fasted in Bible times.
Ginny paused a moment. Then, with a flash of insight, she blurted out, “And they all died.” (Kathy Cash, Dallas, TX, Today’s Christian Woman, “Heart to Heart”)
Little Ginny didn’t really understand what fasting was all about, and the whole idea scared her. Quite frankly, I think that’s where many of us are at. We don’t really understand what fasting is all about, and the idea scares some of us, doesn’t it? It sounds like something only monks and nuns do in monasteries, something too weird for us “regular folks.”
Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to study all the passages in the Bible that reference fasting in one way or another – 35 in all. Actually the word itself is used about 40 times in the Bible. And I was quite surprised at what I found.
I used to think of fasting as a religious exercise (or spiritual discipline) reserved only for the super-spiritual. I thought only the super-saints did this, and those who were really super-spiritual fasted for 40 days and 40 nights!
Just the opposite is true. It is NOT the super-saints who fast in the Bible. It is NOT the super-spiritual. It is the super-sorrowful who fast, and often because they are super-sinners.
FASTING IS FOR THE DESPONDENT.
A brief look at the following biblical passages on fasting clearly demonstrate this to be the case.
In Judges 20:26 we have the first reference to fasting in all the Bible. It is in a book that talks about a constant cycle of sin, judgment and rescue, sin, judgment and rescue. And on the down-side of one of these cycles, it says, “They sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening…” (NIV)
1 Samuel 7:2-6 Israel mourned and sought after the Lord… On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” (NIV)
2 Samuel 1:11-12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan…because they had fallen by the sword. (NIV)
2 Samuel 12:15-25 David “fasted and wept” over a sick child.
1 Kings 21:27-29 Ahab, a wicked king, “put on sackcloth (a sign of extreme grief) and fasted.” Why? Because God had pronounced judgment on his wickedness.
In Nehemiah 1:4, when Nehemiah heard about the broken-down condition of Jerusalem’s walls, he says, “I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” (NIV)
Nehemiah 9:1 The Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads (NIV) – again, a sign of extreme grief.
Esther 4:1-3 There was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. (NIV)
Psalm 35:13-14, David says, “I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting… I went about mourning… I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.” (NIV)
In Psalm 69:10, David talks about a time, “When I weep and fast.” (NIV)
In Psalm 109:22-24, David says, “My heart is wounded… My knees give way from fasting.” (NIV)
In Daniel 9:3, Daniel says, “I…pleaded with [God] in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes” (NIV) – remember, a sign of extreme grief.
Joel 1:13-14 says, “Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn… Declare a holy fast,” (NIV) because judgment is about to come.
Jonah 3:5 says that when the Ninevites heard Jonah’s message of judgment, “They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” (NIV)
Zechariah 7 talks about “mourning and fasting” and “fasting and mourning.” (NIV)
In Matthew 9:14-15, Jesus is asked, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” (NIV) I.e., then they will mourn.
Fasting is inextricably linked to mourning in the Bible. It’s an expression of extreme sadness – not of extreme spirituality. In fact, it is inappropriate to fast when you’re glad. It is inappropriate to fast when you’re happy and content, or when things are going really well in your life.
Jesus makes this very clear in Matthew 9:14-15. You don’t fast at a wedding reception! It is not appropriate. You don’t fast when Jesus, the Bridegroom, is right there with you. But there is coming a day when Jesus will die on a cross and rise again. There is coming a day when Jesus will ascend back into heaven. There is coming a day when Jesus will no longer physically be on this earth. Then, his disciples will miss Him. Then they will mourn. Then they will fast. And then it will be appropriate, as an expression of their sorrow.
Jesus continues in Matthew 9:16-17: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (NIV)
If you fast when you’re glad, you only make things worse. So if God is doing a new thing in your life, don’t fast. Don’t tear up the new thing God is doing with an old tradition. Instead, feast and celebrate. Throw a party and praise the Lord for what he’s doing.
There will come a time when it is appropriate to fast, but not when you’re experiencing the blessing of God, not when God is doing a new thing in your life. You fast to express your despair before God, not your delight in God.
John Claypool, at one time pastor of the Crescent Hill Baptist Church, had a little daughter who suffered with leukemia. When she went into remission, everybody thought that maybe God had healed her. But on an Easter Sunday morning, she went into a terrible relapse.
In his book, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler, Claypool relates how for two weeks his daughter was wracked with pain, her eyes swollen shut. She asked him, “Daddy, did you talk to God about my leukemia?”
He said, “Yes, dear, we’ve been praying for you.”
She asked, “Did you ask him how long the leukemia would last? What did God say?”
What do you say to your daughter when you can’t help her, and the heavens are silent? Emotionally and spiritually he was exhausted. A few hours later, she died. The following Sunday morning, John Claypool got into the pulpit to preach. He preached on Isaiah 40:31, which says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Dr. Claypool said something to the effect, “There are three stages of life. Sometimes we mount up with wings as an eagle and fly. We’re on top of the world. Sometimes we run, and we don’t grow weary. We just go through the routine. Sometimes it’s all we can do to walk and not faint, and I need your prayers and your encouragement.” (R. L. Russell, "Triumphing over Trials," Preaching Today, Tape No. 119)
That’s the time to fast – not when you’re on top of the world, but when it is all you can do to walk and not faint. It is not a sign of strength. It is a sign of extreme weakness and sorrow. You fast to express your despair. You fast to express your despondency before God.
FASTING IS FOR THE DEPENDENT.
Then you fast to express your dependency upon God. Fast to express your great need for God, in the midst of your despair. Fast to humble yourself before God. For, along with mourning, fasting is also inextricably linked to humility in the Bible.
In 1 Kings 21:27-29, when Ahab fasted, God said, “Ahab has humbled himself before me.” (NIV)
In 2 Chronicles 20:1-4, when king Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, it says, “The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord.” (NIV) They recognized their need for God.
In Ezra 8:21, Ezra says, “I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey.” (NIV)
In Psalm 35:13, David says, “I humbled myself with fasting.” (NIV)
In Isaiah 58:3, the nation of Israel asks, “Why have we fasted… Why have we humbled ourselves?” (NIV)
In Matthew 4:2, Jesus fasted in absolute dependence upon God at the very start of His ministry.
In Acts 13:2 and in Acts 14:23, the rapidly growing, early church is in desperate need of leaders, so they fast and pray, seeking God for guidance in this area.
The point is you fast when you recognize your need for God. You fast when you are desperate for God to act, because you know there is nothing you can do to remedy the situation. You fast as an expression of your dependence upon God and your willingness to submit to Him.
That’s what God was saying to Israel, in Isaiah 58, when they asked, “Why have we fasted…and you have not noticed.”
Isaiah 58:1-4 Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘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. (NIV)
The nation Israel was praying. They were even fasting, but God was not answering their prayers. Why? Because they were not willing to submit to God. They were living in disobedience, and their fast was a sham.
Isaiah 58:5 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?
NO! You cannot express humility before the Lord when you are really not humble, when you are really not submissive to Him.
Isaiah 58:6-7 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?
Obey my commands to love one another.
Isaiah 58:8-9a 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; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
Prayer and fasting only works when it is an expression of your humility before God. Prayer and fasting only works when you are feeling absolutely dependent upon God, and are therefore willing to do whatever He tells you to do.
On the other hand, if you feel confident, if you feel like you got your act together spiritually, then it is inappropriate to fast. It is inappropriate to go without food. That was the problem with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They fasted, because they thought it made them look super-spiritual.
Jesus addresses this very problem in Matthew 6, Matthew 6:16-18 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (NIV)
When you fast, don’t let people know about it, don’t wear it as a badge of super-spirituality, because it is not. Fasting has absolutely no benefit when you’re feeling spiritual. In fact, it may actually cause you more harm than good. In Luke 18, Jesus tells us what happened to a Pharisee who wore his fasting as a badge of his own spirituality.
Luke 18:9-14 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If you really humble yourself before the Lord, if you really recognize your need of Him, then God will lift you up. He will declare you righteous, and you will definitely be a better person for it. But if you fast just so you can feel good about your own spirituality, then God will humble you. He’ll bring you down several notches and show you that you are definitely not as good as you think you are.
A turtle wanted to spend the winter in Florida, but he knew he could never walk that far. So he convinced a couple of geese to help him. They each took one end of a piece of rope, while the turtle clamped his vise-like jaws in the center.
The flight went well until someone on the ground looked up in admiration and asked, “Who in the world thought of that?”
Unable to resist the chance to take credit, the turtle opened his mouth to shout, “I did…” (Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 2) Pride goes before a fall – even when you’re fasting.
So don’t fast when you are feeling super-spiritual. Instead, fast when you are feeling super-needy. Fast, when in your despair, you feel absolutely dependent upon God. Fast when you find yourself in desperate need for God to act. On the other hand, if you feel no particular sorrow, if you feel no particular need of God, then don’t fake it with a fast. Don’t be a hypocrite and fast as if you’re desperate, when you’re really not.
One time there was an old sailor dying in a Navy hospital, and a young Catholic priest was sent to do the last rites over him. The young priest said to the old man, rather mechanically, “My son are you sorry for all your sins?”
He was astonished to hear the old sailor say, “To be honest with you, Padre, I’m not. I rather enjoyed all of that whiskey I drunk. I rather liked all those Jezebels in all the ports of the world. I know it’s probably not what you’re supposed to say, but if I’m going to be honest, Padre, I have to tell you that I’m not sorry.”
Then the young priest said, “Well, let me ask you another question. Are you sorry that you’re not sorry?”
There was a long pause, and the priest saw tears beginning to form in the eyes of the old sailor. Finally he said with great conviction, “You know, Padre, I can say that. I am sorry that I’m not sorry.” (John Claypool, "You Don’t Have to Be Good to Come to Christ," Preaching Today, Tape No. 83)
Perhaps, you are not sorry about the sin in your life. Perhaps, you are not sorry about anything right now. But are you sorry that you are not sorry? Are you sorry about the callous condition of your own heart?
David Mains, former pastor and radio broadcaster, once prayed, “Lord, let me see the world as you see it, and break my heart with the things that break yours. He really meant it, and the next day he found himself crying so much, he had to ask God to stop.
Maybe, instead of fasting, you need to pray a prayer like that. Maybe you need to be saying to God, “God, I really don’t feel sad or desperate about anything. I know I probably should, but I don’t. Would you please soften my callous heart. Please, break my heart with the things that break yours.” That kind of a prayer would certainly be more honest.
Then, when your heart is truly broken, you can fast. Then your fast will mean something. And then will you find the relief that you so desperately need (whether you realize it or not right now). For Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4 NIV).
