We have mentioned the three primary themes of this season: prayer, fasting, and alms or giving to the poor. This week we focus on the spiritual discipline of fasting.

Scripture: Joel 1:13-15

13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God.

14 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 out to the LORD.

15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.

Some thoughts:

The Day of Atonement was the only required day of fasting for the Jews, but there were certainly other days and occasions set aside for voluntary fasting. (Num 29:7) The biblical fast most often involved a total abstinence from all food for a set period of time. Lengths of fasts varied. In the passage from Joel, we see fasting combined with the wearing of sackcloth as people went into mourning over the state of their nation. Fasting was always accompanied by prayer as an expression of grief, repentance, and humiliation before the Lord. In times of national crisis in particular the entire nation of Israel would fast and pray. Such is the case here.

The dating of the book is unclear. The problem the nation was facing was not unlike today in our world, it is safe to say, where nations are in rebellion and rejection of God. Fasting and prayer were a common response in the Scriptures by God’s people as we’ll see all this week. What is it about fasting that makes situations of stress, hopelessness, or uncertainty so common a response in the Scriptures?

In vibrant healthy faith our trust is in God alone. In short, he is the one we rely upon for everything; he is our life. But where there is rebellion toward God, judgment follows at some point creating a gaping hole and estrangement from God. Fasting is a reminder that something vital is missing. When we fast, the first thing we notice is we are hungry. Food has always been there, now it is not. We never thought about it before, we just ate. Now, the hunger of fasting reminds us there is a gap in our relationship with God and our dependance on him.

But something else happens at a deeper level. In fasting our mental focus sharpens. We see things around us more clearly. As we pray, (prayer always accompanies biblical fasting), it is common to discover things we have missed or see other situations from a different perspective. In fasting and prayer, the mind becomes sharper, the spirit more perceptive.

Fasting is something to consider as a spiritual discipline. Perhaps you may choose to set aside one day a week for the rest of the season of Lent to fast and pray during the time you would normally be eating. (Be wise and aware of your own physical condition.)

Music: “KATONDA ONSEMBEZZE (Near My God To Thee)” Jehovah Shalom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkApjl0gqoE&list=OLAK5uy_lFSNGZLMCHepAjMKF_6JuZjOFMYtpKbeU&index=26 Terrific! Six voice acapella band from Kampala, Uganda

1. Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee!

E’en though it be a cross

That raiseth me.

Still all my song shall be

Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee!

2. Though like the wanderer,

The sun gone down,

Darkness be over me,

My rest a stone,

Yet in my dreams I’d be

Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee!

3. There let the way appear,

Steps unto heav’n;

All that thou sendest me,

In mercy giv’n;

Angels to beckon me

Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee!

4. Then with my waking thoughts

Bright with thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs

Bethel I’ll raise;

So by my woes to be

Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee!

5. Or if, on joyful wing

Cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot,

Upward I fly,

Still all my song shall be

Nearer, my God, to thee,

Nearer to thee!

Text: Sarah F. Adams, 1805–1848

Music: Lowell Mason, 1792–1872

Prayer: Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness. Therefore, I will remain with you. Of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give.

–Martin Luther 1483-1546