Posture of Fasting: A Deeper Hunger
This is the second post in a series entitled, Spiritual Postures. As a quick recap each month I will clearly state the goal of this series in a hope that this wouldn’t inspire you but rather activate you.
My goal in spending the next year writing about spiritual postures is to not learn more or gain more content but to physically and tangibly explore them. My hope is that as we explore postures like prayer, our prayers would look more like Jesus and in turn our lives would look more like His.
For the sake of this series I will address fasting simply as the intentional abstinence of food and/or drink. I will address lifestyle fasts (social media, technology, etc.) in an article on simplicity in May 2016.
What is Fasting?
Fasting is a refrain from food and/or drink as a response to life’s tragic moments to rest in the presence of God.
Fasting is a response.
For most of my life I viewed fasting as a manipulative strategy to get something from God. I remember clearly my first real fast. I had just graduated from college, taken and quit a crappy first job, wrecked my car (right after I bought an engagement ring!) and I found myself floundering on the shores of life. I was lost, broken, and desperate.
Through the broken glass I began to see clearly what this thing we call the Christian life is all about. God had already given me everything I needed in Christ. Instead of fasting to get something from God…like a job! I responded by fasting. This was a sacred moment, a true spiritual posture…humbled…hungry…comforted.
Our culture has indoctrinated us to believe that by fasting, God will give us something in return. But when we look at Scripture we see that fasting is a response to what Scot McKnight calls a “grievous sacred moment.”* Instead of “if you fast you will get” the Christian tradition teaches that “when ______ happens, God’s children fast.”
So what’s the ______? What’s the grievous sacred moment?
Sickness
Job loss
Infertility
Sin
Famine
Violence
Death
Fasting exposes us. Richard Foster writes, “More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.” Fasting exposes our idols and reveals our true hearts. To fast without prayer is to just go hungry. Fasting is living out the prayer, “Father, not my will but Yours be done.”
How to Fast?
As you begin to cultivate a posture of fasting, it is important to gain an awareness of what is broken in the world…in your world. As you see brokenness, allow yourself to feel that weight. Let it settle deep within your soul. Allow your fingers to loosen their grip on your life.
Now respond to that weight. Replace your hunger for food with a hunger for God to make all things new. Substitute your thirst for a deep longing that every tear will be wiped away from the faces of God’s people. This is a fast. This is a spiritual posture.
I would be remiss if I didn’t address a few of the physical realities of fasting. It is probably not a great idea for your first fast to be 40 days and 40 nights. I’m just saying! Give yourself some time and some grace as you institute a rhythm of fasting in your life. If you have some physical ailments you may want to talk to a doctor before walking through the dessert.
Rhythms of Fasting
As with all the spiritual postures, we are addressing our rhythms of life. Instead of adding a checklist of things you must do to sanctify yourself, remember that Christ is sufficient. To fast is to desire the presence of the Great I Am.
McKnight again is really helpful in understanding fasting. See the chart below to see what a rhythm of fasting looks like:
A – Sacred Moment
Death
Sin
Fear
Threats
Needs
Sickness
B – Fasting
Responsive Fasting
C – Results
Life
Forgiveness
Safety
Hope
Answers
Health
In this rhythm we move from sacred moments to fasting to results. The ultimate goal is not your best life now but the very presence of God. See –> Respond –> Rest
Misconceptions of Fasting
Fasting for Body Image
Fasting for the sake of body image is not a spiritual exercise. If your goal is to lose a couple pounds you have missed the beauty of denial, refrain, and hunger.
Fasting is Just Physical
Fasting is a serious physical exercise. It is the act of replacing the physical pain of hunger with the very presence of God. But it is not physical alone. Fasting is just as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. As our bodies desire food we respond with a desire for the intimacy of our Creator and Sustainer. We cry, “Christ be all around me.”
Fasting is Not Eating
Fasting is less about not doing something and more about being intentional with your entire being. The ultimate product of fasting is not an empty stomach but a full heart. The result of a Christian fast is a better feast. At the end of the day we desire something that food and drink cannot give us. We crave something bigger than our appetites and desires. Our true desire propels us to the Table of The Lord. Our deepest yearning of hearing, “this is My body broken for you…take and eat.”
Fasting is Dangerous
This one is tricky. Sure, depending on your physical nature a prolonged fast can be dangerous. But this is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about allowing yourself to be uncomfortable. We have grown so accustomed to feeling safe. We desperately want the gospel to be safe for the whole family. But it isn’t.
Sometimes, we must wade through the waters of the unknown. We must allow our guards to drop. We must die to ourselves (Jesus’ words…not mine!). Fasting is dangerous. It will inevitably call out of you what you were scared to know was there.
Psalm 35:13-14
13 But I, when they were sick—
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I bowed down in mourning.
May the result of our fasting be the truest grace imaginable…the very presence of a loving Father.
Resources on Fasting
*Scot McKnight, Fasting
John Piper, A Hunger for God
Thomas Ryan, The Sacred Art of Fasting