Expressing Our Dependence: A Biblical Case for Fasting
When was the last time you were aware of your need for God? We live in a culture that elevates the self above all, making it easy to forget we are utterly dependent on our Creator. One of the biblical reasons for fasting is to demonstrate that our faith is in God alone. I will make a biblical case for the importance of fasting and present six reasons Christians should continue this practice today.
Fasting in the Bible
Throughout the ages, the people of God have engaged in fasting, abstaining from food for some time. In the Old Testament, fasting was often a reaction from God’s people after a disastrous turn of events or before a significant undertaking.[1] Christianity also has had a long history of engaging in the practice of fasting. We see Jesus and the early Christian Church fast before starting on a new ministry.[2]
True Biblical Fasting
Biblical fasting is not just going without food, but going without food for kingdom purposes. We might have different goals for engaging in this spiritual discipline: We might do it to confront sin, to seek the conversion of a loved one, or to see spiritual growth in one’s life. These are all kingdom-related purposes. Fasting without kingdom purposes is not fasting but dieting.
Fasting and the Cross
“Fasting ultimately points to the cross. When fasting, we give up something for the kingdom of God that sustains us in life. ”
Fasting ultimately points to the cross. When fasting, we give up something for the kingdom of God that sustains us in life. Christ gave up life itself in obedience to the Father to establish the kingdom of God for the salvation of humankind. It is through His willingness to give up His life that He reconciled us to the Father. His suffering and death were for my sins, and His resurrection proves that his offer was acceptable to the Father.
So why did Jesus fast? When Jesus fasted, he identified with God’s people. Just as God’s people were tested in the wilderness, so Jesus allowed himself to be tested. In this, He demonstrated his love for the Father, His dedication to his mission, and His love for us. It was an object lesson for us, to reveal to us what was in His heart.
Fasting for the Wrong Reasons
It’s possible to fast for the wrong reasons:
As Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 6:16-18, fasting should not be done for the acclaim of others, to put one’s “piety” on display.
Fasting rests on the finished work of Christ, the bridegroom. It assumes that. This act of piety will not atone for your sins. Only the blood of Jesus can atone for your sins.
We don’t fast because we believe the flesh is evil and only the spirit is good. We don’t fast to kill the body to make way for spiritual life. That is Gnosticism. Rather, we fast to demonstrate that our faith is in God alone and not in anything else.
Fasting is not a hunger strike to force God’s hand.[3] We don’t impose our will upon God with fasting, but we declare our desire to be spiritually fed by Him.
Six Biblical Reasons for Fasting
“With fasting, we affirm that while God meets our daily needs, what we truly need is to meet God daily. ”
People fasted to express their longing for God. The prophet Joel (2:12) writes: “‘Yet even now,’ declares the LORD, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’” Here we see that the Lord is declaring that fasting is a tool to bring us closer to God.
People fasted to see the kingdom of God advance. Paul and Barnabas fasted before their first missionary journey. We want to see people healed. We want to see lost people come to a saving knowledge of God and be redeemed. We want marriages restored. We long to see this happen. So, we approach the throne of grace and express our desire through fasting.
People fast to examine their hearts. Fasting is not about giving up bad things but giving up good things, namely food, which God so graciously provides. Do we love God more than we love food? With fasting, we affirm that while God meets our daily needs, what we truly need is to meet God daily.
People fast to discern God’s will. The Bible connects this spiritual discipline to prayer because it changes and strengthens our prayers as we focus on kingdom needs instead of our needs.
Sometimes people fast to express grief. Nehemiah fasted when he realized that the city of God was in disrepair. When grief weighs on us, we often lose our appetite.
People fast to seek deliverance from enemies or circumstances. Esther called out a fast when she realized that the enemies of God’s people were getting ready to massacre them (see also Jehoshapat, footnote 1).
Conclusion
Fasting expresses that we need God more than anything else. It is a means to accomplish much for the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah (58:8-9) states what a biblical fast will accomplish:
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
For those interested in reading more about biblical fasting, I’d recommend: John Piper, A Hunger for God (Redesign): Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer, (Crossway, 2013).
Footnotes
[1] Israel fasted after their defeat against the Benjamites (Jdgs 20:26). Samuel led the people of God to fast after they recovered the ark from the Philistines (1 Sam 7:6) . The men of Jabesh Gilead fasted to indicate their sorrow over the death of Saul and Jonathan (1 Sam 31:13; 2 Sam 1:12). David fasted on behalf of his sick child (2 Sam 12:16). Faced with a great multitude of attackers, Jehoshaphat declared a fast (2 Chron. 20:2) for the nation. Others who fasted are Daniel (Dan 9:3), Ezra (Ezra 8:21), Nehemiah (Neh 1:4), and Esther and the Jews who lived in Susa at that time (Esth 4:3, 16).
[2] Other religions also fast, and even political and social activists use fasting to accentuate their political and social demands (Mahatma Gandhi, and Bobby Sands, to name just a few of them)
