LEARNING DAILY

Zechariah 7:5-6, Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?

As churches seem to be beginning the new year with prayer and fasting, I remember the words God told the people through the prophet Zachariah. The people had asked the prophet if they should continue to fast and weep as they had done for the so many years in the past. They had done this from a tradition they had done for the past seventy years, since the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The question was should they continue this tradition now that the temple had been rebuilt.  

God’s response through Zachariah is something Believers need to consider as they begin to fast and pray. What is one’s purpose in fasting? In Matthew 6:16, Jesus warns against the use of fasting to impress others. “Fasting is never to be an outward display but an inward discipline” (David Jeremiah Study Bible). Believers are not necessarily commanded to fast and pray; but Jesus did say Matthew 6:16, “When you fast”, not “if” you fast. God’s Word does however let us know fasting with prayer is good, profitable, and beneficial. Know that when the Believer does fast that it is a way to take their eyes off the world to focus completely on God; it is a way to show God that you are serious about your relationship with Him.

Read God’s response to the people through Zachariah. It shows that believers need to be careful about fasting because of tradition, because the leaders of their church tell them to fast, or for any other reason besides spending time with God to draw closer to Him. These people were fasting more out of formalism and tradition. God told them their fasting was empty of a real hunger and thirst (Matthew 5:6) for God’s righteousness. Their fasting and prayer were to be about God’s grace and to live a holy and just life before Him and others.

Giving up certain food items is not about weight loss. Fasting is not about trying to get God to do something we want to happen. Fasting is not about appearing more spiritual than others. It is about drawing closer to God. Yes, being set free from and addiction may result. Yes, being set free from wrong or immoral activity might occur. But that is the result of a closer relationship to the One who sets you free.

True obedience and worship are not rewarded through outward and tradition observances; they are rewarded through a sincere and true devotion to God. God’s Word is clear that He desires genuine worship from the Believer’s heart than empty rituals done without true faith.