A modern conversation around fasting usually enters the realm of healthy living. There have been many celebrities who have come out endorsing the practice of fasting and the health benefits received from fasting. There are many health-related social media influencers who speak on studies that seem to point out the benefits of fasting on body composition and gut health and the like. I would not discredit any of these claims and believe that fasting can have real health benefits for a person who participates in the discipline.

But fasting should not be minimized to fad health regimens. Fasting has long been and still can be a beautiful and intimate form of prayer where the participant, through the voluntary forgoing of food, allows themselves to experience humility and express dependence in a newfound way.

There is no better way to voluntarily experience human weakness than to voluntarily fast for an extended period of time. Humans are weak physically. By removing food, it is not long before even the most basic of tasks consumes large amounts of focus and energy. Humans are weak mentally. The human mind wanders and craves and tempts the body out of weakness to give up previously stated desires in pursuit of comfort. Humans are weak spiritually. Fasting so often reveals that, just as we comfort ourselves with an abundance of food, so too we fill our souls with spiritual junk so as to receive quick satisfaction rather than lasting joy.

Many people today fast to temporarily shrink their stomach. But fasting has the power to transform the mind and guide the participant into a deeper prayer life.

Characters in the Bible use the discipline of fasting for several different purposes.

Repentance (Jonah 3:5-10)

The story of Jonah is a personal favorite of mine. It reveals to us the themes of God’s sovereignty, the need for repentance from people who are far from God and also those who are supposed to be closest to God, and also the power of grace and forgiveness.

Jonah is a prophet of God and is called to go to the land of his own sworn enemies, the people of Nineveh. From a human level and nationalist perspective, Jonah had many reasons to look down on Nineveh. And yet, God reveals his desire for nations we may assume as hellish. God directs Jonah to call Nineveh towards repentance, and Jonah hops on a boat going the exact opposite direction. He was afraid, not of the people of Nineveh, but that they might repent. He wanted them to be judged, not forgiven.

But God was determined to allow these people to hear a message of repentance. He sent a storm surrounding the boat Jonah was on and he eventually is thrown overboard and swallowed by a fish. He asks forgiveness and is spit ashore Nineveh where he preaches repentance and forgiveness to a people he despises.

The people of Nineveh and the king are cut to the heart and they call for a city-wide fast. The king himself took off his robe and put on sackcloth, sending word through the city that they should taste nothing and call out mightily to God. Every person should turn from evil. The king declares that by doing all of this: “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (3:9).

And God does see their repentance, and God does turn from his anger.

Fasting was a sign of the truth of their turning. That it was not just an intellectual exercise, but they felt their turning from sin into the core of their being. Something about fasting changes us as humans, and also is a signal to God the seriousness of our spiritual desire for his truth.

Mourning (2 Samuel 1:12)

The first king of Israel, Saul, was a very complicated character who showed much more evil than good. What began as a promising kingship fell into disorder as Saul sought to please the people more than God and to hold onto power rather than pursue the purposes of God. He spent years of his kingship persecuting the ever-popular David, though David had no intention of taking power from Saul, who David repeatedly recognized as the Lord’s anointed.

Though Saul made David’s life difficult, we look at the time of David’s fleeing as a time of formation to becoming a king after God’s heart, learning to be dependent on God in all situations. In our flesh, we may be tempted to believe David would look forward to the death of Saul, when the day finally arrives David and the men with him mourn. David’s rise to kingship begins with mourning over his predecessor.

Fasting is used as a sign of a troubled spirit, and a longing for comfort from God. In fasting, we are able to experience supernatural comfort that only comes when we strip away the normal means of finding comfort. When we are sad, we often are moved to find comfort in other people, in pleasure, and on occasion food. Fasting is the removal of worldly comfort so that in mourning we find true comfort that only resides in God.

Protection (Ezra 8:21-23)

King Cyrus of Persia signs an infamous edict that allows people who had been taken into exile to return to the land of their ancestors. But how were these exiles, who had long been away from their homeland, supposed to live in this place? First, there were serious physical and logistical issues they would face. They were going to face opposition from the people who now occupied the land. They also were going to face the issues of rebuilding what was broken down. Secondly, their ancestors had at one time been removed from their homeland because they had been unfaithful to God. How were they going to make sure that this would not happen again? Especially since there were ongoing sin issues still plaguing the people.

In order to be successful, they depended on God for directing their paths, literally and spiritually. One such event was their travels to Jerusalem, which were brought with danger. For a hedge of protection, Ezra called for a fast. They brought with them no soldiers to protect them, and yet they made it safely with no incidents.

These people were on a mission for God, and God honored their prayer for protection. In our own ministry towards the needs of others, I wonder how often we pray and fast for God to provide the means of ministry or if we often minister out of our own ability. In what places would we go and minister if we believed God would protect and provide for us? Do we limit the reach of God working through us because we are limited to only what we are already able to do on our own?

Spiritual Warfare (Matthew 17:21)

In Matthew 17, Jesus has just revealed himself in supernatural form at we we call the transfiguration. Jesus, as a human, becomes a blinding light and he begins to converse with Moses and Elijah. Truly an incredible scene that nearly escapes imagination and in many ways exceeds comprehension. At this point in the story, Jesus has not beat the grave, but this is perhaps the greatest sign of his divine nature preceding the resurrection. As he comes down from the mountain, some of his disciples are struggling, unable to cast a demon out of a young boy.

Jesus casts out the demon instantly and the disciples ask why they were unable. Jesus tells them that it is a problem of faith. Faith is something that can be exercised, made stronger. And how can we strengthen our faith? By prayer and fasting.

Fasting does not do the work of casting out demons, or any other thing. The casting out of demons, healings, and any other “work” is a work of Christ, graced to us. Prayer and fasting allows us to strip of distractions and strengthen our faith, not by the work of faith but by gaining clarity of Christ and his doing.

Intervention (Esther 4:16)

Esther is an amazing book in that it never mentions God, and yet God is seen clearly working throughout the entirety of the story. King Ahasueras holds a banquet and his wife displeases him, and he publicly dismisses her. He sends out news of a type of pageant where he will seek a new bride. Esther, a young Jewish exile, gains favor within the ranks of those preparing the possible brides and earns the right to be the new queen. It happens to be perfect timing, as about that time the evil Haman sneakily gets the king to sign a decree to kill all Jews in the kingdom. Mordecai goes to Esther, with her newfound influence, and pleads with her to go to the king and ask for the life of her people. In reality, though she is to be queen, has little influence and can only approach the king when he first approaches her. Otherwise she is risking expulsion as the last queen or worse her own life.

She agrees to go to the king. But she will only go if the people fast on her behalf.

She needs God to show up, to intervene on her behalf and on the behalf of the Hebrew people.

Fasting is a discipline that, though it makes our bodies weak, allows us to seek the strength that comes from God. It is a spiritual strengthening, and it opens our eyes to the reality that many of the problems we face are not merely physical but mostly spiritual. It is God intervening, strengthening Esther and working on the heart of the king, that lends Esther success. The modern holiday of Purim celebrates the story of Esther, but what is more the movement of God on behalf of the Jewish people.

Devotion (Luke 2:37)

The Bible treats fasting as a means of experiencing the grace of God, not as a means of earning the favor of God, though this idea runs contrary to how we often perceive religious fasting or our relationship with God in general. When we pray, so often we believe God to be our magical genie in a bottle who will do our wishes if only we ask correctly. We feel similarly in fasting.

There is a story of a widow prophetess, Anna, who never departed from the temple. She spent her days in constant devotion to God, worshipping with fasting and prayer.

Out of her devotion, as Jesus was in the temple as a baby, she was given word of the redemption of Jerusalem that was to come. In her devotion, God had revealed his secret purposes and plans to her.

I am not going to pretend to say when you fast you will be revealed some special knowledge. God gives to those he deems fit to receive. But fasting does have a way of clearing your vision, allowing you to see the movements of God. Fasting is a way of removing your own will, controlling even your desire to place food in your belly. In turn, in fasting the participant looks to and takes on the will of God. It is an act of submission, of devotion, and in fasting we seek the understanding of God.

What did Jesus say? (Matthew 6:16-18)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives lofty teachings that become the moral backbone of the Christian faith. This is where we find how Jesus desires for his followers to live. Jesus heightens the moral obligations of his followers, while also exposing the truth of the kingdom Jesus was bringing. It aimed at spelling out the Way to live for his followers, a Way of loving God and others, a Way of righteousness, and a way of integrity.

Jesus addresses directly the practices of prayer and fasting. In both, Jesus tells his followers that prayer and fasting are not for public admiration but a means of private devotion. Prayer and fasting is a way of experiencing God, not of gaining favor from onlookers. About fasting specifically, Jesus tells his followers when (not if) they fast, to do so in a way that does not draw attention to their discomfort. Instead of using a fast to gain honor of our peers, fasting is a way to draw close to God, and this closeness is our secret reward.

Jesus himself tells us that God notices our fasting, and this is a great mystery to me, though I accept it on faith. But not only do I accept it on faith, but also from experience as someone who fasts. That I can testify to the beauty I have experienced in the midst of the discomfort. There is a mystery to experiencing the presence of God in a special way while fasting, and truly there is no greater gift than God’s presence.

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