Have you ever heard this phrase?
“What’s your problem???”
We all have problems! Some of us have personality problems such as selfishness, unforgiveness, anger, lust, greed, laziness, gluttony, drunkenness, body odor, wastefulness of God’s great provisions, spiritual pride, no concern for the lost, no hunger for God and His Word and the list goes on and on.
We may think we doing just fine without a care in the world and that certainly is a sign of problems, so, “What’s your problem??”
Well, if we have problems and we all do there is one spiritual discipline that we used to hear about a lot when I was a kid but we don’t hear about it so much any more and that is.
Fasting. What is it?
Nehemiah and the Israelites fasted
King David fasted
Queen Esther, Mordecai and the Jewish captives fasted
Jeremiah called the nation of Israel to fast
Daniel fasted
Ezra fasted
The prophet Joel called the nation to fast
Jesus fasted
Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher who blessed
Jesus fasted
The disciples fasted
These all fasted and many more found in Scripture but as with all things where people are involved, there is a holy way to fast and an evil way to fast.
We see fasting by the people of Israel in Isaiah 58 which draws a rebuke from the Lord.
Isaiah 58:1-9 (NIV)
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their rebellion and to the descendants 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. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves?
“Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
“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 them, 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; you will cry for help, and He will say: ‘Here am I.’”
Wow! What an example of fasting in vain!
What is the Lord telling these people!
They were fasting because they needed something; good crops, protection from enemies, riches, power.
They were treating God like He was a master and they were His pet puppies. If they rolled over He’d give them a treat. If they jumped through a hoop He’d give them another treat. If they fasted, wore sackcloth and rolled around in ashes He’d give them what they wanted.
The only thing is, if that was the way it worked, it would make them the master and God the provider with no choice but to bless because they had performed properly.
The only problem is that God sees the heart and God sees the actions of the rest of their lives apart from the act of fasting.
They were cheating their employees.
They were contentious and getting into fist fights with each other.
They were enslaving each other.
They were allowing the starving to go hungry.
They were leaving the naked without clothing.
They were even turning their backs on their own family members.
It’s not just going through the motions, it’s the heart and the heart overflows into all aspects of life.
God calls them to righteousness first and then to fast for their needs.
Now, if there is a proper “way” to fast it must be somewhere in the Bible!
What did Jesus say about fasting?
Matthew 6:16-18 (NLT)
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.
“But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
You see, fasting is not something you do in front of people in order to gain popularity as a spiritual giant!
When you do the right thing for the wrong reasons it is still wrong.
Jesus gave all sorts of admonitions about this sort of thing:
People giving large offerings in order to be noticed
People dressing in a certain way in order to look religious
People washing their hands in a ceremonial way to look proper when their hearts were impure
Hypocrisy is not high on the list of things God is pleased with.
Remember when we said that there must be a proper “way” to fast. Well we can see that there is, it is done in private and it is done with a broken spirit and a contrite heart.
So, what in particular can we say about fasting?
Fasting increases our humility and dependence on the Lord.
Fasting humbles us because we are saying to God, “I need
You!”
Fasting allows us to give more time and attention to prayer.
Fasting allows us to demonstrate to God what is important in
our lives, eating or praying.
Fasting is a good exercise of self-discipline.
Fasting heightens our sensitivity to spiritual matters.
Illustration: You are in a dense fog and “can’t see your hand in front of your face, as they say. Spiritually speaking, fasting causes the sun of God to burn away the fog so that you can see spiritual matters more clearly. You may be able to see an area of your life where you are not walking faithfully with God or someone else and the Lord may use fasting to make it plain to you.
Warning: you cannot force God to give you an answer about something or to give you something by fasting and praying.
Fasting expresses our earnestness and our urgency or desperation in prayer.
Sometimes the situation may become so intense that you may need to set aside not only eating but entertainment, relationships and even work for a period of time.
Fasting gets us ready for God’s answer even if it’s something I may not want it to be.
Fasting draws us into a sense of oneness with God like nothing else. God honors the right spirit and the right motive when we come to Him in fasting and prayer.
If you’ve never fasted before ask the Lord to place something on your heart that is so important that you are willing to lay everything aside in order to seek Him and His answer.
Here is a prioritization for fasting.
If your heart is full of sin and you have an urgent need for which you feel you must fast, fast for righteousness first. Get your heart right with God and with others first!
Then you can fast for other things.
Most of us think about fasting when something earth shattering is happening in our lives. Have you ever thought that if we fasted and prayed more perhaps we would have fewer earth shattering events in our lives???
Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Why mess around with trying to do it your way instead of God’s way?
What spiritual riches are there just waiting to be discovered? Sometimes these riches of relationship with God are never discovered because we don’t take our relationship with God seriously.
Would it be too much for us to all agree to fast one meal this week with the express purpose of asking the Lord to reveal to each one of us clearly the standing we have with Him? Are we pleasing to Him? Are there huge gaps between us and God that need to be repaired?
In the beginning we asked posed the question, “What’s your problem?” Do we dare to fast and pray and ask the Lord, “Please show me what my problem is.”?
Psalm 51:17 - “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart You, God, will not despise.”
