A good thing to do
I've been thinking a lot about fasting recently. I decided to fast one day last week, just as an expression of my love for God, but I got to wondering about how the practice originated, and whether there is a 'right' reason and way to do it. Some thoughts:
1) Most Christians these days seem to see it kind of as a way of adding weight to one's prayers about particular things. Well, no, I don't think they really think that, but it's a way of demonstrating to God the urgency of one's prayers. Often people will do it when there's something particular that they want of God, either asking Him to act in some way on someone's behalf, such as physical healing or revelation, or seeking His will on some particular matter, such as whether to propose to one's girlfriend or not. This approach is fairly well represented in the OT (2 Sam. 12:21-23, 2 Chron. 20:3, Ezra 8:21, Esther 4:3 & 16, etc), where it is also used on other occasions as a token of mourning - both in terms of contrition and worldly sorrow of some kind.
2) Isaiah 58 is of course the classic biblical passage on fasting. Here God says that for a day of fasting to be what it should be - 'a day acceptable to the Lord' - it must be accompanied by a righteous lifestyle. And of course, it's fairly obvious that the mere act of fasting is worthless in itself without a corresponding attitude of submission. But this suggests that not merely a right attitude but right actions are necessary.
3) I visited the mosque with my Arabic class on Sunday, and a man gave a talk about Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam, which starts this Friday. It was intriguing - especially as I had already been thinking about fasting. He said Ramadan is 'the sweetest month of the year' because one lives in a constant state of submission, expressing love toward God, as well as learning a healthy discipline. During Ramadan, a person gets up before dawn to have breakfast, then doesn't eat or drink, not even water, till sundown, when families get together and 'break fast' together, either at someone's house or at the mosque. Hence there's a strong sense of community that develops at this time, as everyone goes through this ordeal together. Of course it's easy, once you set up rules like this, to get lost in the rules and just go through the motions, perhaps out of fear. But it strikes me as something very beautiful, if a person were to do it in the right spirit, to do something so totally 'unnecessary' in a utilitarian sense, just because you love God.
***
So there's three different approaches to fasting. I suppose they're all valid. I haven't really said anything controversial enough to inspire comments, so perhaps I'll just give an invitation to everyone to share any insights or relevant experiences they've had. Have you found it meaningful to fast, if you've tried it? Do you tend to fast for some particular thing, or just as a disciplinary exercise, or for some other reason I haven't mentioned, perhaps? Do any of you fast regularly? I did for a while, and tried to use the mealtimes to pray for my youth group girls; not sure why I stopped actually...
1) Most Christians these days seem to see it kind of as a way of adding weight to one's prayers about particular things. Well, no, I don't think they really think that, but it's a way of demonstrating to God the urgency of one's prayers. Often people will do it when there's something particular that they want of God, either asking Him to act in some way on someone's behalf, such as physical healing or revelation, or seeking His will on some particular matter, such as whether to propose to one's girlfriend or not. This approach is fairly well represented in the OT (2 Sam. 12:21-23, 2 Chron. 20:3, Ezra 8:21, Esther 4:3 & 16, etc), where it is also used on other occasions as a token of mourning - both in terms of contrition and worldly sorrow of some kind.
2) Isaiah 58 is of course the classic biblical passage on fasting. Here God says that for a day of fasting to be what it should be - 'a day acceptable to the Lord' - it must be accompanied by a righteous lifestyle. And of course, it's fairly obvious that the mere act of fasting is worthless in itself without a corresponding attitude of submission. But this suggests that not merely a right attitude but right actions are necessary.
3) I visited the mosque with my Arabic class on Sunday, and a man gave a talk about Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam, which starts this Friday. It was intriguing - especially as I had already been thinking about fasting. He said Ramadan is 'the sweetest month of the year' because one lives in a constant state of submission, expressing love toward God, as well as learning a healthy discipline. During Ramadan, a person gets up before dawn to have breakfast, then doesn't eat or drink, not even water, till sundown, when families get together and 'break fast' together, either at someone's house or at the mosque. Hence there's a strong sense of community that develops at this time, as everyone goes through this ordeal together. Of course it's easy, once you set up rules like this, to get lost in the rules and just go through the motions, perhaps out of fear. But it strikes me as something very beautiful, if a person were to do it in the right spirit, to do something so totally 'unnecessary' in a utilitarian sense, just because you love God.
***
So there's three different approaches to fasting. I suppose they're all valid. I haven't really said anything controversial enough to inspire comments, so perhaps I'll just give an invitation to everyone to share any insights or relevant experiences they've had. Have you found it meaningful to fast, if you've tried it? Do you tend to fast for some particular thing, or just as a disciplinary exercise, or for some other reason I haven't mentioned, perhaps? Do any of you fast regularly? I did for a while, and tried to use the mealtimes to pray for my youth group girls; not sure why I stopped actually...
posted by Kat | 10/13/2004 07:03:00 pm
2 Comments:
Yup. I have done a few times... Your post has inspired me to fast more often. Hmmm... perhaps I could start easy - just fast for one meal at a time =)... a whole day seems a bit much for me. Maybe that's the point. Perhaps I'll give it a go...
Yeah, I tend to do just up till dinner time rather than a whole day. Seems like a good length of time to me and still requires discipline. Also makes it easier to avoid having to tell anyone, which for some reason I really don't like doing.
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