It used to be a rhythm of my life, like breathing. Each Friday I would turn away from the table and spend that time quieting my soul, being nourished only by His Presence deep within my spirit. I found a stillness in that rhythm until the mothering of children and duties of work caused me to step into other ones.
Just last week, that rhythm visited me again, in the same manner it had the first time: organically. The busyness of the day, the involvement in the duties, swept me from moment to moment until, finally, I noticed, that evening, that my day's nourishment had been completely spiritual. The fast continued into the next evening, but it wasn't until the morning of the third day that I noticed the stillness. Sitting quietly at my desk, I felt a deep sense of profound contentment.
A wonderfully satisfying contentment that can only come from the true source of life.
Psalm 131
"My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
"My heart is not proud, O LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore." (NIV)
both now and forevermore." (NIV)
He had led my distracted, whining heart lovingly to that place, weaned from the noise always whirring around and within me-- the distractions I too often embrace--that I might enjoy that moment of supreme peace.
Alone.
With Him.
I wasn't "trying to be spiritual". I wasn't trying to manipulate God to see things my way. I wasn't asking for anything. He just met me in the ordinary events of my day because it pleased Him.
Because He loves me.
Each physical hunger pain produced by fasting reminds me of the true source of nourishment, of eternal satisfaction."Taste and see that the LORD is good"
The spiritual disciplines are not requirements that we must meet to manipulate our Father God into loving us, they are tools to enlarge our selfish, shrivelled hearts to better love Him and those around us.
Practices that help us breathe...
...and live..
....and love, in tune with the rhythms of His heart.
"Discipline is not something you do TO yourself--it is what you do FOR yourself." Lou Holtz
Other thoughts about fasting:
"Fasting--the voluntary abstention from an otherwise normal function--most often eating--for the sake of intense spiritual activity." The Life With God Bible
* * * * *
Suggestions for Fasting and Feasting:"Fast from discontent; feast on thankfulness. Fast from worry; feast on trust. Fast from anger; feast on patience. Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others. Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayers . Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness. Fast from discouragement, feast on hope. Fast from media hype, feast on the honesty of the Bible. Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence. Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds." Anonymous
* * * * *
"Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God." Andrew Murray* * * * *
"We tend to think of fasting as going without food. But we can fast from anything. If we love music and decide to miss a concert in order to spend time with God, that is fasting. It is helpful to think of the parallel of human friendship. When friends need to be together, they will cancel all other activities in order to make that possible. There's nothing magical about fasting. It's just one way of telling God that your priority at that moment is to be alone with him, sorting out whatever is necessary, and you have cancelled the meal, party, concert, or whatever else you had planned to do in order to fulfil that priority." J. I.Packer* * * * *
"In Shansi I found Chinese Christians who were accustomed to spend time in fasting and prayer. They recognized that this fasting, which so many dislike, which requires faith in God, since it makes one feel weak and poorly, is really a Divinely appointed means of grace. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to our work is our own imagined strength; and in fasting we learn what poor, weak creatures we are - dependent on a meal of meat for the little strength which we are so apt to lean upon." Hudson Taylor* * * * *
"Do you have a hunger for God? If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God. Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is the path of pleasant pain called fasting." John Piper* * * * *