What a
timely question. At the Sunday evening service before Christmas Pastor Bruce of
the Assembly of God church in Quartzsite called for a fast from the day after
Christmas, until10 PM New Year’s Eve. Then we will meet and share a light snack
to break the fast. The suggestion was meant with mixed levels of
enthusiasm.
Having been diagnosed as a
diabetic a complete fast is not advised and I have already given up my much
loved sweets. During Christmas, I was surrounded by candy, cookies, and pie.
While the family enjoyed apple pie and other goodies I ate an apple. Just before
Christmas I bought a big bag of my favorite sugar-free/ diabetic candy which
incidentally still has to be eaten in moderation. So no sugar-free/ diabetic
candy for now, my very limited experience with
fasting.
But I digress , back to Pastor
Bruce and his suggestion of a fast. He referred us to the several Scriptures
where fasts were called for and achieved positive results. In the book of Esther
we read of her people engaging in a three-day fast after which she was able to
approach her husband, the King, with the result that the Jewish population was
spared.
Jehoshaphat was one of the great kings of
Judah. 2 Chronicles 17:4, “But sought to the
Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings
of Israel.”
Later, 2
Chronicles 20:1-3, "It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab,
and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came
against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat,
saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this
side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. And
Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast
throughout all Judah."
Jehoshaphat and his people
were rewarded by the Lord. 2 Chronicles 20:15, “And he said, Hearken ye, all
Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith
the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;
for the battle is not yours, but God's.
Added later:
Our pastor suggested a six-day fast starting 12/26. He cited Scriptures
relating to fasting. Of the five cited, only two seem to meet with positive
results. The one he suggested by Isaiah really spoke to me.
Isaiah 58:3-7, "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not?
wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in
the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye
fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall
not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a
fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down
his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou
call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I
have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to
let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own flesh?
This seemed to me to be shades of Matthew 23 with Jesus referring to the
scribes
and Pharisees as hypocrites. So it seems that we should approach a fast as we
would our prayer time, with a right attitude of supplication.
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