"...ALL FOR THE GLORY..."

Introduction

Last week we made the connection between fasting and humility—and between humility and relying on God. We've learned quite a lot—not only about fasting, but about how we should live in general. But there is still much more that we can learn about fasting from the Bible. Over the past two weeks, we had an in depth look at Jesus' quotation (Matthew 4:4) and its historical background (Exodus 15-16, and Deuteronomy 8). This week, we will examine the basic circumstances that motivated Biblical fasting.

Bad News for the Jews

Besides humility and helplessness, there are several conditions or circumstances that are commonly associated with Biblical fasting. Mourning is the first condition we will consider. In Matthew 9:15, Jesus equates fasting with mourning when he explains why His disciples are not conforming to the practices of the Pharisees: “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.” Fasting and mourning are connected in several other passages of Scripture. For example, after a battle in which many of their people died, “David and all the men” responded to the bad news by tearing their clothes and weeping, mourning, and fasting until evening (2 Samuel 1:11-12). Mourning is almost always the result of receiving some kind of bad news.

ccc The book of Esther contains a prime example of bad news followed by fasting and mourning. Esther 3:8-14, 4:3 tells the story: “Then Haman said to King Xerxes, 'There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them...' So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman... the king said to Haman, '...do with the people as you please.' ...Haman's orders... were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day... In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” Mourning—or bad news—is one circumstance that motivates Biblical fasting.

Fasting and Repentance

In the Old Testament, Joel (1:1-2:11) prophesies about the judgment that God is going to pour out on the Jews because of their sins. When we read about judgment, it is tempting to point a finger at God and wonder how He can be so cruel. But think for a moment about the purpose of Joel's prophecy. Why does God tell the Israelites about the coming devastation? Isn't Joel's prophecy a warning from God? Aren't his words a call to repentance? God's mercy is clearly evident in the following passage: “'Even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity” (Joel 2:12-13). In this passage of Scripture, the word “return” means repent. We turn away from God by ignoring Him and His commands. We turn away from God whenever we sin. Therefore, when we realize we have sinned, we need to return to God. How do we return to God? We return by confessing our sins, asking for God's forgiveness, and resolving to obey His commands in the future. Our sinfulness, then, is another kind of bad news that should cause us to fast, mourn, and repent.

ccc Jonah chapter 3 is an excellent example of repentance-associated fasting: “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.' Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: 'Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.' The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: 'By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.' When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

Fasting and Prayer

So far, we have talked about the relationship of humility, mourning (or bad news), and repentance with fasting. Whereas mourning and repentance are somewhat circumstantial, humility (or helplessness) is a fundamental aspect of fasting. In other words, fasting and humility go hand in hand. However, prayer is also a vital component of fasting. When we find ourselves in humiliating and helpless situations, we should pray. When we receive unchangeable bad news, we should mourn and pray. When we come face-to-face with the magnitude of our sinfulness, we should repent and pray. As Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

ccc As we have seen in past devotions, fasting is a way of acknowledging that without God we are truly helpless—even when we feel self-sufficient. Fasting is a way of acknowledging that God is in control. Should we acknowledge God's sovereignty in our lives and then not ask Him for His help? No—that would be absurd! Especially since God wants us to ask Him for His help (Matthew 7:7-11)—in everything!

ccc Ezra 8:21-23 is a good example of fasting and prayer in the Bible: “There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, 'The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.' So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”

Pomp or Circumstance?

In the examples described above, difficult circumstances caused people to turn to God with fasting. It is important to remember that God should always be the focus of our fasting. If we make ourselves the focus of fasting, then we are like the hypocrites that Jesus described in Matthew 6:16, and we are merely putting on pomp—an “ostentatious or vain display.” In Zechariah 7:4-6, we read God's words as spoken by the prophet Zechariah: “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?'” And in 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul gives us the following exhortation: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” So, when you fast, when you pray, when you worship... what is your motivation: (1) pomp or (2) circumstances that drive you to acknowledge and rely on God? This week I encourage you to “do it all for the glory of God.” Next week, we will continue our Biblical examination by looking at a more charitable view of fasting.