The Heart of Fasting

Without further ado, here’s my third and final post in response to my two previous posts on fasting.

In this post, I want to give some thoughts and opinions on what I found in the Bible about fasting. For starters . . .

I don’t think fasting in of itself means anything to God.

The reason I say that is I couldn’t find any definitive verses where fasting existed by itself and God did something because of fasting alone. Fasting always accompanied an action or attitude (mourning, repentance, humility, prayer, etc).

It is the action and/or attitude that accompanies fasting which I believe is of value to God.

It’s a principle taught everywhere. God desires the pure in heart (1 Samuel 16:7, James 4:3, Matthew 5:8) and those willing to obey God.

You can fast all you want, but if your attitude and the state of your heart is not right before God, your prayers are going to fall on deaf ears.

That statement is actually pretty frightening. I can fast and God may not come to my aid or act on my behalf. Make it Friday the 13th scary when you read Isaiah 58:3-4, Jeremiah 14:12, and Zechariah 7:4,5,13 and see it actually happen to people in the Bible.

But on the flip side of Friday the 13th, we have Good Friday. If our fasting is done appropriately, God does listen to us (Jonah 3:3-10 and 1 Kings 21:27-29). But again, we see that it’s not the fasting that does anything.

God moved on behalf of the Ninevites because “God saw what they did and how they turned” (Jonah 3:10). The same goes for Ahab. “Because he has humbled himself” (1 Kings 21:29), God didn’t bring disaster on him. None of it was directly attributed to fasting.

So this makes me wonder, if fasting isn’t a prerequisite for anything, why do it?

Obviously people in the Bible fasted, so there’s got to be a reason somewhere. I tried looking for the origin of fasting in the Bible, but couldn’t find it. It seems like it was something just assumed to be a natural part of life.

But here’s a theory. Fasting (at least the extended variety) was used as a tool to in some ways force humility and reliance upon God?

Basically to get you into a state where you had to cry out to God and be on your knees asking for strength because you couldn’t roll yourself out of bed. Take a look at these verses: Isaiah 58:3, Psalm 35:13, Ezra 8:21.

They seem to imply fasting was used to achieve humility. Do you see where I’m trying to go with this? We know that God wants us to legitimately seek and desire after him. If we deny ourselves food long enough, we can get ourselves to that state. Ideally, when we’re humbled before God and crying out for anything and everything God is more inclined to listen.

I know, it sounds crazy and stupid and is definitely wrong. It’s just a thought. If my claim is valid about fasting meaning nothing, then why would a person even consider fasting (aside from physical benefits)?

The thing is, we know Jesus fasted in the desert (Luke 4:1-2). And if he’s God in human form and he’s fasting, there’s got to be something more to it.

I’m going to stop here and see if anybody has any comments or thoughts on anything I’ve said.