A Higher Fast

In this Bible study on fasting, there are two glaring omissions. We have left out what are probably the two main passages on fasting in the entire Bible. The most obvious, of course, is Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness. (In some ways, this is a reminder of Elijah’s 40-day fast. Elijah went 40 days on the strength of angel food. Jesus went 40 days on spiritual sustenance alone.)

This story is told in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13. While Mark has only the barest telling—Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and was tempted there—Matthew and Luke give many details, though in reverse order, of the temptations Jesus met. We are most concerned with the first item in every telling: Jesus ate nothing for forty days and forty nights. Then He was hungry. It is an interesting feature of spiritual fasts that people are often not hungry, or only hungry for a few minutes at normal mealtimes, until they are over.

A fast should be under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. A woman was once impressed to fast, and didn’t even know why. She obeyed the prompting, and spent mealtimes praying for “whatever it is You are doing, Lord.” After three days she got hungry and stayed hungry, so she assumed the fast was over and ate, still mystified as to the reason. Two days later, a loved one for whom she had prayed for years told her he had surrendered to God.

Somehow, a fast can focus the power of God, perhaps especially when He is working for those who would not pray, let alone fast, for themselves. In the case of Jesus’ temptations, His long fast gave Him not only the power to face and vanquish the devil in each of the following temptations, but apparently also prepared Him to begin the great work for which He had come to earth. It could have seemed to Him that the thirty years He had already spent were preparation enough, but after His baptism He was impressed by the Spirit to go alone for an extended time. There, knowing anything at all about Jesus, we can be sure He spent his time in prayer and meditation, planning and hoping for the future and the beloved children of God whom He would try to introduce to the loving Father He knew so well, rather than the angry God their leaders pictured for them. Satan offered several shortcuts to the apparent fulfillment of His goals, but Jesus, His mind sharpened by the fast, recognized them easily for the lies they were, and turned him down flat.

A fast can sharpen the spiritual mind, focusing it on God and His will. The other important fasting passage we have not looked at yet is found in Isaiah 58. This chapter is often thought of only in the context of Sabbath-keeping, but in fact, addresses many other spiritual disciplines, particularly fasting.

The first two verses are instructions to Isaiah to tell His people some home truths:

“Cry loudly, do not hold back;

Raise your voice like a trumpet,

And declare to My people their transgression

And to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know

My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness

And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God

They ask Me for just decisions,

They delight in the nearness of God.”

What is God disappointed about here? Do the people really delight in God’s nearness or want just decisions? How can you tell? “Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?” (Verse 3)

Have you ever felt God was ignoring your prayers? In what ways can a nation, church, or individual pretend to seek God and His righteousness, yet be transgressing and sinful to the point of needing a wake-up call from God?

“Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,

And drive hard all your workers.”

“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and

to strike with a wicked fist You do not fast like

you do today to make your voice heard on high.” (Verses 3-4)

What makes it possible for a person to attend a feast day or special church holiday and still harbor wickedness and contention?

Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?

“Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed

And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?

Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

Is this not the fast which I choose,

To loosen the bonds of wickedness,

To undo the bands of the yoke,

And to let the oppressed go free

And break every yoke?

Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry

And bring the homeless poor into the house;

When you see the naked, to cover him;

And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Verses 5-7)

What do these have to do with fasting? Conversely, what does a traditional fast have to do with the godly actions listed here? Is there any connection? It seems that the point God is making here is that spiritual activities that are engaged in without regard to the practical matters of living a Godly life, especially issues of social justice and compassion for the poor and suffering, are useless in His eyes. Fasting cannot make up for living an unGodly life, ignoring how you treat your family, your neighbors and issues such as world hunger, poverty, disease, etc.

Earnest spirituality must be mingled with a serious attempt to live a life that is constructive and caring, involved in the world around us for the betterment of humanity. This results in the outcome that God promises in this chapter.

“Then your light will break out like the dawn,

And your recovery will speedily spring forth;

And your righteousness will go before you;

The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am ‘“ (Verses 8-9)

Godly fasting is engaged in for unselfish reasons. If we work and pray and fast for the healing of others and for social justice, then we can expect blessings from God, promises listed here mostly in imagery. What do you think they mean, in practical terms?

“If you remove the yoke from your midst,

The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

And if you give yourself to the hungry

And satisfy the desire of the affected,

Then your light will rise in darkness

And your gloom will become like midday.

And the Lord will continually guide you,

And satisfy your desire in scorched places,

And give strength to your bones;

And you will be like a watered garden,

And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.”

(Verses 10-11)

Verse 12 makes it clear that the kind of spirituality that God seeks is a spirituality that results in constructive, practical outcomes in the world. If fasting is narrowly religious in its focus, it is not godly fasting. Instead the kind of fast that God wants is one that results in concrete outcomes in the community. “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.” This could be seen as a central promise to the whole chapter. In the immediate context of Isaiah, it appears to be talking about the physical rebuilding of Jerusalem. What else might it mean?

We see in this passage of Isaiah, unique among other Bible passages on fasting, that there are many, many other principles at work besides simply abstaining from food for a time. Most often, a fast is a personal, private thing between God and one person, and it would be easy to limit fasting to only that. According to this chapter in Isaiah, fasting is to be done in love and obedience, with an eye to the needs of others, rather than simply for own individual purposes. The chapter also mentions Sabbath-keeping, and in fact, Sabbath can be seen as a fast from work, from “business as usual,” as the phrases in verses three and 13, most often translated as “your own pleasure,” are best translated. Sabbath is meant to be a day in which we devote ourselves to prayer and to the work of God for justice and unity among all His children.

A fast is to be entered into prayerfully, with a specific plan in mind, or if, as in the story above, God impresses us with the need to fast, then we may simply pray for His will to be done. A fast may, in fact, help you lose weight or have any number of health benefits, as many people claim, but the point of a spiritual fast is to be spiritual. Any health benefits are extra bonuses.

God’s desire is for us to be united with His Spirit, and that Spirit never thinks of self, only of others. Only of you and me and the rest of God’s hungry children. When we truly unite with God in this way, then the mighty promises of this prophecy will truly come to pass in our lives.