I’ll be the first to admit it. Fasting isn’t fun. Okay, obviously, I’m not the first one to admit that. Fasting can be a challenging spiritual discipline to do. To some extent, it might even be more challenging than prayer. I argue this, because it takes a lot of prayer, from my experience, to get through a fast.
 
Objectively, we can all look at fasting as a good thing. We all want to deeply know the Creator of our universe. We all know fasting is designed to make us rely upon the Lord more, to seek Him more in our hunger for whatever we’re fasting.
 
Most Christians see fasting as a way to put ourselves in a position of discomfort to rely on the Lord. But what if we viewed it differently? What if we fast because we are already in pain, seeking God’s help in our suffering?
 
In recent months of my spiritual walk, I have been reading through a lot of the Old Testament. I’ve been reflecting and noticing key points where characters in the Old Testament fast in response to crisis or pain.
 
For example, David in II Samuel chapter 12, fasted in response to the prophecy of his child’s death. David, in his deep pain, rather than seeking comfort, sought discomfort to draw closer to the Lord.
 
In the book of Joel, we see in chapter 1, verse 14, the prophet urges the people to:

• “declare a holy fast; Call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the House of the Lord your God, and cry up to the Lord.”

The prophet Joel urges the people of Judah not to seek comfort, but to seek the Lord. In fact, not just seek the Lord, but become deeply reliant upon the Lord… Calling the people to do this in their crisis of famine.
 
I could give more examples throughout scripture, but as I reflect I can’t help but think… What if we are approaching crisis in the wrong way? The American response is to seek comfort. I don’t think seeking comfort is inherently wrong. But what if we are seeking comfort in all the wrong ways? What if, in times of crisis, we put ourselves in a state of deeply needing the Lord? How radically different would our spiritual walks look?
 
Seeing different Biblical characters respond to crises with fasting has started to make me view fasting through a different lens. Now I pray I don’t get any crises sent to me soon. But I do think I want to approach them differently going forward – putting myself in a deeper state of needing the Lord when I already need him. I would encourage all of us to do the same… To rely upon our Lord alone.
 
-Pastor Casey