Challenges of Fasting

Of all the spiritual disciplines, fasting must certainly be the most difficult and challenging. The other disciplines face their challenges, for sure. Bible reading faces the challenge of our busyness and distraction, prayer the challenge of our self-sufficiency. In my desire to add to my life fasting as a spiritual discipline, I knew it would be difficult. Being hungry is no fun. This particular desire (need) of the flesh is powerful. Controlling the craving for food when it is right there in the refrigerator or cupboard places high demands on your self-control. It does remind you to ask God for help, however. It also reminds you to pray about other things.

I was surprised, however, to find that experiencing hunger was actually the easiest part of fasting (at least at the level I’ve so far practiced). I found a much greater challenge to fasting than hunger. In fact, two challenges. The first is similar to the challenge to the other spiritual disciplines: our busy lifestyle. It is hard to fast when you are busy with so many other things. It takes energy to maintain a busy life. Besides, if we are so busy that we have little time to pray, read and meditate on Scripture, or worship God fasting kind of loses some of its purpose. I’m not suggesting you cannot fast while you are busy serving God and living life. On the contrary, Jesus suggested that when you fast you should go about your daily business as if everything was normal, so that no one would know you are fasting (Mt 6.16-18). Nonetheless, biblical references to fasting are most often connected with prayer, suggesting that there ought to be some quiet time associated with fasting.

The greatest challenge I found to fasting, however, was neither the hunger nor the busyness, but simply being around other people who are not fasting. I’m not referring to the torment of watching them eat while you abstain. That might be difficult. But rather, it is the desire to be sociable that sometimes makes fasting difficult. Eating with others is a way of showing love, building bonds of friendship, sharing intimacy, or simply being courteous. If my wife is having a meal, I want to have it with her. Perhaps this is a good reason for husbands and wives to fast together. But if you spend much time with people, fasting can be hard. Perhaps this is one reason Jesus and his disciples did not practice fasting during Jesus’ earthly ministry. He was always with people—eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners, eating with his disciples, going to banquets—so much so that they called him a glutton and drunkard (Mt 11.19). These were false charges, of course. But they were based on the fact that Jesus was always sharing meals with people. To be alone he had to go up on a mountain and spend the night. Perhaps this explains why fasting is often associated with monasteries and the lifestyle of a monk. It is inconvenient and perhaps even rude to fast when you are around others.

This latter challenge is not necessarily bad. On the contrary, Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Lk 19.10), and that’s how he spent his time. We are to be about the same business. But the two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it was in the midst of fasting that the Holy Spirit revealed to the Christians in Antioch to send some of them out to seek the lost (Acts 13.1-3). Perhaps we would seek and save more lost souls if we spent a little time in fasting and praying about it.

Why Should We Fast?

Last week’s article on fasting seems to have resonated with many of you (this article is also sent out on an email list, from which I received many responses). Evidently I am not alone in my experience (or rather, lack of) with fasting. Many of those who responded suggested that they do not fast and have seldom or never heard any teaching on fasting. There were some notable exceptions, however. Nonetheless, it does seem that fasting is rare among Christians today (I can't say that my "sample size" is anywhere close to representative of course).

Before coming back to my personal experience and thoughts about fasting, however, let me briefly consider a few examples from the Bible. The first Biblical mention of fasting might be Gen 24.33, where Abraham’s servant, who was sent by Abraham to find a wife for Isaac, refused to eat food that was set before him until he told his business. Even if it was just one meal, this would qualify as a fast, which simply means to “abstain from food.” Later, fasting began to be commonly practiced among the Israelites. The Law of Moses evidently required only one fast, which was on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16.29-31 – “humble your souls” has traditionally been interpreted as fasting). Yet we see many references to fasting among the Israelites. Moses twice fasted for 40 days while receiving the Law (Ex 34.28; Dt 9.18). Throughout the Old and New Testaments fasting was done to seek God’s guidance and gain understanding and wisdom (Jud 20.26; Dan 9.3; 10.3 Acts 13.1-3), to beg God’s forgiveness (1 Sam 7.6), to mourn the loss of leaders (1 Sam 31.13), to entreat God’s healing (2 Sam 12.22), to express national or personal repentance (Jonah 3.5 – these were not even Israelites), to call on God for protection (2 Chro 20.3; Ezra 8.21) , to call upon God’s power (Mt 17.21), and for many other reasons. There are just too many instances to list here.

Fasting not only has many purposes, but many benefits as well. In her book, The Roots and Fruits of Fasting, Mary Ruth Swope lists such “fruits” as drawing closer to God, bringing about spiritual brokenness, building self-control, concentration on prayer, greater sensitivity to God’s will, fortification against Satan, greater focus on Jesus, and many others, including benefits to physical health. Other good books include Richard Foster’s classic Celebration of Discipline, and Marjorie Thompson’s Soul Feast.

Fasting, like the other spiritual disciplines, is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. The intention is to draw closer to God by making us more dependent on him. Fasting puts us in a place of weakness, where true strength lies (cf. 2 Cor 12.9). Not only are we physically weakened, but we are weak against the desires of the flesh. In fasting we come to battle against the flesh at one of our most basic levels: hunger and the desire and need for food (though fasting can include abstaining from sex or other desires as well -– 1 Cor 7.5). Here is where we truly learn that “man does not live on bread alone….” I cannot say that I’ve fully experienced this, as I haven’t fasted beyond 24 hours. I cannot fathom what it must be like to fast for seven or ten days as some of you have done, let alone 40! I have a long way to go, but perhaps I’ve begun the journey. Next week I want to share some personal challenges to fasting.

Should Christians Fast?

Should Christians Fast?

I’ve been reading about fasting lately and trying to develop this spiritual discipline in my life. In fact, one of my goals for 2010 is to make this more of a regular practice. I hesitated in writing about it this morning, simply because I have not yet practiced it regular and consistent enough to speak about it from the standpoint of personal knowledge. But perhaps by writing about it and making my “resolution” public, I’ll be more apt to follow through. Besides, in my personal reading this morning I’m in Mt 4, where Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness and had fasted for 40 days. So this is what I’m thinking about right now. Well, I’m not thinking about fasting for 40 days. I’d be happy to do 40 hours. So far I’m only up to 24 (hours, that is), which is pretty easy.

But why fast at all? Perhaps a better question is, “Why haven’t we fasted at all?” I’ll admit that in my 30 years as a Christian, I’ve never practiced it, except on one occasion many years ago. That occasion was such a difficult experience for me that I never tried it again (I have a high metabolism, and it didn’t help that I was working manual labor and burning lots of calories that day). But I am finding that I am not alone in not having practiced fasting. Many Christians have not, and they do not understand why we would even want to. Fasting is seen as an ancient practice that is mostly irrelevant to our day, except perhaps during extreme or special circumstances. I have only once heard a sermon on it, and seldom have I seen brethren write about it.

Part of the problem, perhaps, is that fasting is never popular in a self-indulgent society. We live in a culture that denies itself very little. And while we might see the need to deny ourselves illegitimate things (e.g., illicit sex, drugs, etc.), or perhaps to enjoy legitimate things in moderation, most Christians see neither the need nor the purpose of going without food, even for a single meal (except when they are trying to lose weight, of course).

I’ve even used Scripture to support my lack of fasting. After all, Jesus’ disciples (and I assume Jesus himself) did not seem to fast as a regular practice, unlike John and his disciples (Mt 9.14-17). When John’s disciples asked Jesus why his disciples did not fast, Jesus answered that the attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them (vs.15). And while there would be a day when the bridegroom (Jesus) would be taken away and his attendants (the disciples) would fast, such a solemn and “mournful” practice is not normal when Jesus is with you. To fast when Jesus is with you is like putting new wine into old wineskins—something you just don’t do. I believe the “days when the bridegroom is taken away” refers to the days that Jesus was in the tomb. But since his resurrection, Jesus has been with us (Mt 28.20). So why then should Christians fast? Isn’t celebration more appropriate? This is the question I want to pursue with you in the weeks to come.