Fasting

 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’

“I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.”                                                                                                                              Isaiah 58:3 NLT

The Bible is rather ambiguous about fasting. It is clearly commanded in connection with the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29; 23:26-32), where it is referred to as “afflicting yourself.” That is, it is an act of contrition because of unintentional sins committed during the previous year. Likewise, it appears in the book of Joel, again as an expression of repentance. The nation was experiencing a drought, and Joel suggested that it was a punishment for sin, and that a fast should be called (2:12). When Ezra discovered that the Judean men, even priests, were marrying unbelieving women (who would be rearing the Judean children), he wept and fasted through the night (10:6). Finally, it is reported in Zechariah that the people who had returned from exile were engaging in five different fast days associated with the destruction of Jerusalem (perhaps begun during the exile; Zech 7:1-5).

But when the Bible discusses fasting, it is rather negative about the practice. Isaiah 58 condemns it and says that if the worshipper wants to stop doing something, he should stop oppressing his workers. Zechariah says that the Judeans might as well discontinue their fasts because they were not really repentant.  Jesus (Matt 6:16) condemns those who fast for show. In short, if fasting is not accompanied with sincere repentance, as shown in our behavior,  it is useless.

Nowhere does the Bible condone the modern practice of fasting in order to determine God’s will, or to get him to do something for us, or to convince him that we are really serious about something. Is it of value as a spiritual exercise, as a way of bringing our “flesh” under the control of the Spirit? Yes, probably. (Anna prayed and fasted in the Temple Luke 2:37; Jesus says that after the Bridegroom is gone his disciples will fast Matt 9:14-15). But like all spiritual exercises, we must be very careful that it does not become an end in itself, i.e., afflicting myself proves I am growing in Christ.