Before even coming on the field, our squad decided that we wanted fasting to be a regular part of our culture as a squad (and a church). In case you were wondering, my thoughts on fasting can be summed up in two main, coexisting points:
Fasting sucks.
+
I love fasting.
This year is actually only the second year I haven’t fasted as part of celebrating Lent, and that’s taking into account all my B.C. (before Christ) years. But fasting is a huge part of my walk with the Lord (I’ve just started practicing it outside of this designated season), and I have a passion for sharing about it. Month 1, I decided to compile some of my research, thoughts, + experiences regarding fasting, and talk to the squad about it, if they were curious. (We, the big C Church, sometimes forget that not everyone grew up tuning their ear to some of the christianese terms we throw around. And worse—some of our brothers and sisters are embarrassed about asking questions that they are TOTALLY valid in asking.)
Now in month 9, I find myself thinking about the topic of fasting again and again, as we all seek to make it a part of our journey toward deeper intimacy with the Lord. So, partially as a reminder to myself, and also to encourage any of you who are wondering about it, here are some of my notes and quotes on fasting! (It’s a little messy, but I hope it helps!)
…
In Leviticus 23, the Lord lays out what the Israelites should do on the Day of Atonement (a.k.a. Yom Kippur). In this context, to “afflict yourselves” translates practically to fasting, which is how the Jewish holiday is understood even today.
To “fast” aligns with “afflicting oneself,” and because I hate definitions that leave you needing more definitions, I’ll pop the definition of “afflict” in here too: “cause pain or suffering to; affect or trouble; (celestially) be in stressful aspect with.”
Cheery stuff, right? But like I told you, fasting sucks. It’s uncomfortable. And if you’re fasting and it’s all comfy-cozy, that fast isn’t really filling its purpose.
Kent Berghuis, in a series called Christian Fasting: A Theological Approach, traces the Hebrew root for fasting to a semantic field that includes to “humble oneself,” as well as to “deny oneself, and to do no work,” which Berghuis quotes from the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, (edited by Willem VanGemeren).
When we fast, we aim to empty ourselves, and rely on the Lord to fill that space that we’ve hollowed out within ourselves. It’s an opportunity to be real with yourself about how much of your life belongs to a thing, a temptation, or a habit, instead of to the Lord.
I also want you to note that the way fasting is described is largely reflexive. Yes, leaders and peers can call others into fasting, or can declare that the masses fast (see Esther 4:16, Joel 1:14, 1 Samuel 7:5-6), but the heart of fasting is not in inflicting starvation on other people—it’s in making a choice for yourself. Even when Ezra proclaims a fast, he does it “that we might humble ourselves before our God” (Ezra 8:21 ESV). It’s not so that Ezra can be the one to humble them, but rather Ezra invites the people to make the choice to humble themselves. On that note, a couple other references that equate fasting with humbling yourself: Psalm 35:13, Isaiah 58:3.
Before I go any further, I want to make it really clear that I don’t fast “perfectly,” if there is such a thing. I am by no means an expert, except in my own experience. I believe one of the most valuable things you can do as you explore fasting and practice it, is dig in for yourself. Read the Scriptures, talk to the Lord about it, be upfront about when you fast and fail. Because ultimately, I want you to have an understanding of fasting and how it can be part of your personal journey with God.
Fasting is a huge, broad topic, with tons of cultural, theological history, and I’m just here to give you a glimpse into a small sliver of that based on what I’ve studied and experienced.
So you’ll notice that biblically the term “fasting” has no direct instruction to be from food. If you look it up in a dictionary, you’ll get definitions that stem from a German and old English root and they might mention food, but I’m pretty sure Moses wasn’t speaking German…
You’ll also notice that there is no how-to guide for fasting, because it wasn’t an Israelite invention, or as H.A. Brongers puts it, it was “by no means a Israelite monopoly.” Like we saw before, fasting fits into the semantic family including the words for practicing Sabbath and mourning. So fasting very well fits into the actions and routines that the Bible instructs us in, but it was commonly practiced in communities outside the Lord’s people as well.
How to choose what to fast:
- Audit your time and thoughts to find where you dedicate your attention.
- Examine possible earthly motivations for your fast and ask yourself honestly if you are guided by those. Earthly motivations lead to self-glory, not God’s glory. For God’s glory to be your objective, it has to also be your motivation. A fast from food with the intention of losing weight, for example, shifts the focus from the Lord and His providence, to your “own” ability to shape His vessel the way you want.
I just want to remind you that we don’t fast from things because they are bad. I’ll say that one more time:
We don’t fast from things because they are bad.
Our default is to fast from food, and food is absolutely not bad. Or else God wouldn’t have required it for our sustenance or told us repeatedly that He is the bread. In fact, choosing what to fast has less to do with what you’re fasting and more to do with your relationship with that practice or object. Afflicting oneself means to put intentional tension between your actions and your desires. It’s juxtaposing your hunger with the abstention of food, your habits with the decisions to not act on them, or your evasive nature with intimacy with the Lord.
There are plenty of examples of fasting in the bible, with the first explicit reference in Exodus 34, but my goal is not to help you list the names of other people who have fasted, but rather to start you on an exploration of what it means to make the discipline of fasting a part of your life.
I actually don’t find it super helpful to rely entirely on examples of OT fasting, because Isaiah (Is 58) and Zechariah (ch 7) have a lot to say about the hypocritical nature of it, which carries through the Old Testament and New Testament and now.
Jesus says, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)
The prophets and Jesus were not discouraging the practice of fasting, but rather the malpractice of it. Actually, we see prophets and leaders like Ezra engaging in fasting as repentance and intercession on behalf of the people. Ezra 9:6-15 and Nehemiah 9:1-3
As Ezra shows by fasting individually and corporately…
Fasting can be incredibly personal, and even rightfully done in secret. BUT that doesn’t mean it has no implications for how you interact with other people and vice versa when one of you is fasting
So I want to ask a couple questions:
How should you interact with others while you’re fasting?
Honorable fasting enables us to bless others, and does not promote wastefulness. (Think about why we don’t want our hosts to make food for us if we won’t eat it.)
Isaiah 58 says, “No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke. I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood!”
This is also why it is biblically sound to urge you against roping people into your misery when fasting. Because you are not partaking in something does not mean that something ceases to exist. It does not mean that others aren’t allowed to take joy in it. By using your outward expression of fasting to guilt others, you are actually doing the reverse of fasting (slowing??) by moving yourself to the center of attention and the center of command, rather than humbling yourself and exalting God in that situation.
And how should you interact with others who are fasting?
Sigh…you know how middle schoolers are the worst? Not like in every way, but in very specific ways, they’re THE WORST. One year I gave up chips for lent. So you know that every single girl at my lunch table got chips with their lunch and waved them in front of my face going “don’t you want one?? CAN’T HAVE ONE!” and crunching their stupid Baked Lays (which I didn’t even like the taste of) between their braces approximately 2 inches away from my face.
There’s grace for them, of course, but that is not my go-to example of honoring people who are fasting.
You can honor others in their fast by praying with them, being the hands and feet of Jesus as you care for them and keep an eye out, by holding them accountable, etc.
Another point about fasting: it’s disruptive + intentional
Fasting is meant to disrupt your normal circumstances/routine, not to become it. I think one of the easiest ways to nullify your fasting is to forget about it. But as we see with fasting as a practice of mourning, the experience and emotions are intensified, not nullified. Naturally, you will start to forget—even our stomachs adapt quickly to what we do and do not give them. But fight the urge to let your fasting evolve into forgetfulness. Continue to talk to the Lord about it.
Examples of people going without food or water, suffering from hunger, but not fasting include 1 Sam 28:20 and 30:12. So in the same way, if you forgot to go buy a coke for three days, you weren’t fasting from coke, you were forgetting.
Fasting is laying down flesh and relying on the strength of God. The best example I can think of for this is when Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted (Matthew 4:1-11).
You know when you’re in the passenger seat next that one friend who is a terrible driver but you don’t tell her that cause you’re trying to be nice? I have two friends who are truly truly awful drivers. One of them accelerates for the sake of accelerating. So when we’re 6 inches away from the car in front of us and could SO easily just roll on up and brake a safe distance away—NOPE she has to accelerate the car and make it leap forward and then slam on the brakes to keep us from hitting them. It’s TERRIFYING. And you know I’m in the passenger seat slamming on my imaginary brakes. I think I’ve actually strained my knee from doing this too hard. Like if I press hard enough on this little section of carpet, the car will stop—I’m sure of it. I always wonder if subconsciously I think that my friend who’s driving will notice me tensing my leg and A) be offended or preferably B) recognize how on edge I am and start driving like a sensible human.
I tell you this because if you’ve felt that stress, of not being able to do anything about your life—about the safety of your friend or the person in the car next to you or the woman crossing the street or that kid on his bike—it hurts you. Imagine how much harder it would be if you did have those pedals on your side. If you had every ability to control and stop that car but couldn’t put your foot down.
God’s power is not irrelevant to Jesus’ self control as man. When Jesus is tempted, he is the epitome of self-control because in every sense he embodies the strength of God–the strength of God to push through temptation, not to avoid it. He was there to be tempted. He felt the desire to make bread for himself and take up the enemy’s offers. But He didn’t.
Fast before feast
When your fast is over, it’s OK to celebrate. All of us, Leslie Knope included, know that breakfast is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But feast to the glory of God, not yourself. Fasting should help you recall what the Lord has given you and the magnitude of those blessings. It should increase your hunger for pure things. And don’t pedal backwards by valuing whatever you fasted from more than you value God. Don’t abuse God’s permission to feast. Aim to end a fast with a more true understanding of the weight/value of the thing you fasted from. Next to Him, everything pales.
“The ultimate hope of the believer is one of feasting and enjoying the life intended by God through the work of Christ, who kept the fast that humanity could not.” –Kent Berghuis
Fasting as Moses and Jesus did (for forty days) is supernatural power. Don’t trick yourself into thinking that you fasted successfully by means of your own flesh. It’s God’s power that sustains you through fasting, and if your mind is veering toward self-glorification after a fast, you probably need to reevaluate what you understand a successful fast to be.
I also think that our culture has gotten the order of fasting and feasting wrong. Take a second before you mardi gras it up, and ask how much you trust God to sustain you through this fast. If you’re trying to fill up as much as you can or get away with it until the last minute, what does that reveal about your heart posture going into the fast?
Fasting helps bend you to God’s will, not the other way around.
Again, it’s that whole humbling thing.
Even if we fast, we are not entitled to anything from God for it. We are told in Matthew that if we fast in secret before our Father, He will reward us. But as with anything, we don’t get to tell God how we want to be rewarded.
I think the ultimate goal of fasting is to empty yourself in humility and make space for the exaltation of God. That’s the simple truth of it. I’ve grown so close to the Father in fasting. It’s a discipline that leads to righteous dependence on God rather than on flesh. Fasting breeds intimacy with the Spirit as you make the intentional decision to let Him fulfill any cravings or spaces that you’ve emptied. It’s a way for us to sit in the harsh reality of some of what Jesus suffered for us when He walked among us as a man, and to praise Him for that.
