Fasting

Fasting

Bible: Zechariah 7:1-10

Reading

The fasts … will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace (ZECHARIAH 8:19)

I was so hungry! My youth worker had suggested fasting as a way to focus on God. But as the day dragged on, I wondered: How did Jesus not eat for forty days? I struggled to rely on the Holy Spirit for peace, strength and patience. Especially patience.

If we are able to fast, it can teach us the importance of ‘spiritual food’. As Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (MATTHEW 4:4). Yet, as I found out first-hand, fasting on its own doesn’t mean we are instantly brought closer to God!

In fact, God once told His people through Zechariah that their fasting was useless since it wasn’t making them focus more on God. “Was it really for me that you fasted?” was God’s very relevant question (ZECHARIAH 7:5).

God’s question revealed that the problem wasn’t their stomachs; it was their attitudes. By continuing to live for themselves, they weren’t coming any closer to God. So He told them, “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor” (VV.9-10).

Our goal is always to come closer to Jesus. Fasting can help us do this, because our hunger pains will remind us why we’re fasting in the first place, prompting us to talk with Him. But if we’re just fasting because we think we should, or so we can feel like we’re ‘super spiritual’—all we’ll get is hungry.

WHATEVER WE DO, LET’S GET TO KNOW
JESUS BETTER THROUGH IT.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries