It is not Good for the Fast to be Alone

“While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting.” Acts 13:2

I live in Nebraska but I love the sea coast. Maybe that is the Aussie surfer in me whose youth was filled with annual vacations at the beach. Walking along a gorgeous sandy beach is a taste of heaven: the water lapping methodically at the shore, your bare feet tracking in the wet sand, and the refreshing salt breeze on your face. At the coast there is space and a quiet that soothes the heart. In a place like this I naturally think of God.  A natural reaction to this kind of beauty is to want to share the experience with someone, either directly with a companion or indirectly by recounting it through Facebook or the like.

Fasting is not meant to be alone, it exists to have a spiritual companion. The Scriptures remind us that we are commanded to fast and pray, or to seek the Lord with fasting. The act of fasting creates the environment for these other spiritual activities to thrive. Do you realize that it is impossible to really love the Lord and not adore Him. Fasting detaches us from the pull of the earth and enables us to rise to heaven more freely in our prayer life. Fasting is like a walk on the beach with God as our companion. God loves to be with us and to share with us. It is our prayer life that develops this adoration and fasting adds passion to it. You are what you pray!

Love for God’s creation or love for God intensifies our hunger to know about the object of our love. Love intensifies knowledge. In a spiritual sense,  fasting humbles us so that knowledge may increase and prayer then moves into adoration. Prayer forms us as people because this venue brings us into intimate contact with God. There are other spiritual benefits to fasting as well. Many people speak of a heightened liberty in intercessory prayer and worship, greater insights into Bible study, new awareness of personal sin, or clarity for seeking direction. Think of Moses who received the commandments of the Lord, a tangible expression of the holiness of God, in a climate of fasting and waiting on the Lord (Deut 9:9-10). Fasting gives us a new kind of appetite.