And yet, for two thousand years,
Christians have fasted. One expression, among others, of healthy, vibrant
Christians and churches has been the practice of fasting. However much it may
seem to be a lost art today, fasting has endured, for two millennia, as a means
of Christ’s ongoing grace for his church.
Why, then, if Christians, unlike Muslims, are not commanded to fast, do we still fast? First of all, Jesus’s teaching in the Gospels, particularly in Matthew, is plain enough. In addition to his own example (Matthew 4:2), and while not directly commanding his followers to fast, Jesus gave instructions for “when you fast,” not “if” (Matthew 6:16–17). More than that, in speaking about what his followers would do after his departure, he says, “then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15; also Mark 2:20; Luke 5:35). Again not a command, but a powerful promise from our Savior’s lips that we’d be foolish to ignore.
Early Christians Fasted
Beyond Jesus’s own words, we find
a pattern of fasting as the early church grows and multiplies in the book of
Acts. In one of the most pivotal junctures in the story, the leaders in Antioch
“were worshiping the Lord and fasting” to seek God’s guidance at a
key moment in their church life (Acts
13:2–3). While they were doing so, the Holy Spirit spoke to them, “Set
apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2).
Then “after fasting [again] and praying they laid their hands on them and sent
them off” (Acts
13:3).
Then Acts 14 provides us
with a pattern of prayer and fasting “in every church.” As
Paul and Barnabas revisited the cities in which they had made new converts on
their first missionary journey, they “appointed elders for them in
every church” and “with prayer and fasting they committed
them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23).
Why God’s People Fast
Overall, the New Testament may
have little to say about fasting, but what it does say is important. And in
what it doesn’t say, it leans heavily on the Old Testament.
The Hebrew Scriptures do not speak the final word on fasting, but they are
vital in preparing us to hear the final word from Christ. I count more than 25
mentions of fasting in the Old Testament, but it might be most helpful to look
at three groups of passages with one common thread.
Inward: To Express Repentance
The first, most common, and
perhaps most fundamental type of fast expresses repentance. Think of it as
“inward.” God’s people realize their sin — typically not small indiscretions or
lapses in judgment, but deep and prolonged rebellion — and come seeking his
forgiveness.
For instance, in 1 Samuel 7,
God’s people become freshly aware of their past and present idolatries (and
God’s hand of discipline). They want to return to the Lord and
newly “direct [their] heart to the Lord and serve him only” (1 Samuel 7:3).
They assemble, under Samuel’s leadership, fast as a demonstration of their
repentance, and confess, “We have sinned against the Lord” (1 Samuel 7:6).
Similarly, in 1 Kings 21, even though king Ahab “sold himself to do what was
evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings
21:25), he “humbled himself” with fasting when confronted by the prophet
Elijah — and God was pleased to delay impending disaster, even for such an evil
king (1
Kings 21:29).
In Nehemiah 9, God’s people “assembled
with fasting and in sackcloth” to confess their sins and seek God’s forgiveness
(Nehemiah
9:1–2). In Daniel 9, the prophet realizes the time for the end of the exile
has come. Daniel records, “I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by
prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:3).
He “prayed to the Lord my God and made confession” (Daniel 9:4)
for the sins of God’s people, in hopes of restoration. So also, Joel 1:14 and 2:12 call
for fasts of repentance, to return to God from sin — as in Nineveh when the
people believe the message Jonah reluctantly delivers. “They called for a fast
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them” (Jonah 3:5).
Old Testament saints often
expressed an “inward” heart of repentance to God not only in words but with the
exclamation point of fasting. Such fasts did not earn his forgiveness but
demonstrated the genuineness of their contrition.
Outward: To Grieve Hard
Providences
But fasting not only expresses
repentance. On many occasions, it gives voice to mourning, grieving, or
lamenting difficult providences. The seam that holds together 1 and 2 Samuel is
the death of Saul and the nation’s ensuing grief. First Samuel ends with a
seven-day fast of mourning for Saul (1 Samuel
31:13; also 1 Chronicles 10:12). As 2 Samuel begins, and news reaches
David and his men, “they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and
for Jonathan his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of
Israel, because they had fallen by the sword” (2 Samuel
1:12). It was not an expression of personal sin, but of grief at the death
of their king.
When news of Haman’s edict
arrives in Esther 4, “there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and
weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes” (Esther 4:3).
When David prays about his friends’ betrayal of him, he says they rejoice at
his misfortune, even though he had “afflicted [him]self with fasting” and
mourned when they were sick (Psalm
35:13–14). In Psalm 69, David says he “wept and humbled [his] soul with
fasting” (Psalm
69:10), not because of his own sin, but because he was ill-treated.
Similarly, Ezra “sat appalled” (Ezra
9:3–4), and fasted (Ezra 9:5), not at his own sin, but having learned “the holy
race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands” (Ezra 9:2).
Fasting gave voice to the pain
and sorrow of sudden and severe “outward” circumstances and represented a heart
of faith toward God in the midst of great tragedies.
Forward: To Seek God’s Favor
Finally, we find a kind of
“forward” fast, not in response to sin within or grief
without, but more proactive, in a sense, asking for God’s guidance or
future favor. The first explicit mention of fasting in the Bible, coming at the
sordid end of Judges, has this “forward” component. God’s people not only weep
for the civil war unfolding among them but also inquire of the Lord for
guidance (like Acts 13:2), whether or not to go out in battle against the
tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:26). We see such a “forward” orientation in 2
Chronicles 20:3: with a great multitude coming against his people, king
Jehoshaphat sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast. He pled for God’s direction,
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2
Chronicles 20:12).
David also sought God’s rescue on
his knees “weak through fasting” (Psalm 109:24)
and appealed for healing for his sick newborn with a forward-looking fast (2 Samuel
12:16, 21–23). “Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me,
that the child may live?” (2 Samuel
12:22).
Fasting “forward” for God’s favor
played a crucial role in the preservation and return of God’s people from
exile. Before approaching the king to seek his favor, Esther sought God’s favor
first, with a fast:
“Go, gather all the Jews to be
found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three
days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will
go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)
God answered and, through Esther,
saved his people.
Even Darius, king over Israel’s
exile in its final stages, sought Daniel’s deliverance from the lions (in an
often overlooked part of the story) with fasting (Daniel 6:18).
Before setting out from Babylon, Ezra proclaimed a fast “that we might humble
ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for
ourselves, our children, and all our goods” (Ezra 8:21, 23). Also
for Nehemiah (like 2 Chronicles 20:3), fasting not only expressed grief and
mourning (Nehemiah
1:4) but led to seeking God’s favor: “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to
the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to
fear your name, and give success to your servant today” (Nehemiah 1:11).
He prayed, and fasted. Then, in faith, he approached the king.
Fasting often served as an
intensifier alongside “forward” prayers for God’s guidance, traveling mercies,
and special favor.
Common Thread: Godward
This is not all the Old Testament
has to say about fasting (for instance, see the correctives of Isaiah
58:3–6; Jeremiah 14:12; and Zechariah 7:5; 8:19),
but the three general categories hold: fasting expresses (inward) repentance,
grieves (outward) tragedies, or seeks God’s (forward) favor. And a common
thread holds all true fasting together. Fasting, like prayer, is always
Godward.
Faithful fasting, whatever the
conditions of its origin, is rooted in human lack and need — for God. We need
his help, his favor, his guidance. We need his rescue and comfort in trouble.
We need his forgiveness and grace because we have sinned. We need God. He, not
human circumstances or activity, is the common denominator of fasting. Fasting
expresses to God our pointedly felt need for God.
We have daily needs, and unusual ones. We pray for daily bread, and in times of
special need, we reach for the prayer-amplifier called fasting.
Christian Fasting Is Unique
Christians have one final and
essential piece to add: the depth and clarity and surety we now have in Christ.
As we express to God our special needs for him — whether in repentance, or in
grief, or for his favor — we do so with granite under our feet. When our
painful sense of lack tempts us to focus on what we do not have, fasting now
reminds us of what we do. Already God has come for us. Already Christ has died
and risen. Already we are his by faith. Already we have his Spirit in us,
through us, and for us. Already our future is secure. Already we have a true
home.
In fasting, we confess we are not
home yet, and remember that we are not homeless. In fasting, we cry out to our
Groom, and remember that we have his covenant promises. In fasting, we confess
our lack, and remember that the one with every resource has pledged his help in
his perfect timing.
“Christian fasting is unique
among all the fasting in the world,” says John
Piper. “It is unique in that it expresses more than longing for Christ or
hunger for Christ’s presence. It is a hunger that is rooted in, based on, an
already present, experienced reality of Christ in history and in our hearts.”
In Christ, fasting is not just a
Godward expression of our need. It is not just an admission that we are not
full. Fasting is a statement — in the very midst of our need — that we are not
empty.
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