2. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
3. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
God is primarily concerned that our hearts be turned toward Him when we fast. It is a time to seek His face and be captured by His Spirit. As we do this, we find that He moves us to a place of demonstrating His love and character in practical ways—we are blessed and we become a blessing to others.
In this illustration, what God wants is our hearts to be right. When they are He will reward us and put us in the position of hearing His responses. His and our delight is to see the results and the changes in our lives in response to what God decides to do.
As John Piper puts it, we miss out on the best in God because we keep ourselves stuffed with other things. In other words, we are so full on food and entertainment, that we have no appetite left for God. Is there something wrong with food or moral entertainment? Of course not! These things are not bad, but we often don’t realize that they can be to blame for our lack of hunger for God. You see, it is not our feasting with the wicked that typically robs us of our hunger for God, but the constant nibbling at the table of the world that leaves us so full that we have no appetite left for God.
I experienced this at Christmas. I nibbled so much so that when the main meal came, I didn’t really enjoy it. What we are nibbling on, computers, investing, TV, surfing the web, work, shopping, exercising, talking on the phone, home repair, and even our Christian work, are all fine, though, taken together, can leave us so full that we have nothing left for God.
A delight in fasting from time to time is a way of saying, that having more of God surpasses having these other gifts God allows me to enjoy. In other words, we express to God, “food is good, your many gifts are good, but you are better!” It helps restore our focus from ourselves and the good things God places in our lives, to the Giver of those good things, ensuring that God remains preeminent above everything.
People seek delights in different ways. One delight is conquering the habit of self-discipline. It is being in control of your urges instead of your urges controlling you.
Another delight is in the presence of God. Worship, in song, in praise, in blessing. You don’t prepare food, clean it, put it on the table, gather, and set down in addition to eating it, gives additional time to enjoy God’s presence. Jesus said, “I have food you know not of.” Indeed, God rewards those who keep their gaze focused upon Him as they fast, rather than on the praise of men. As He sees our heart turned toward Him, seeing that we are not out to impress others with our spiritual discipline, but in weakness, expressing our needs and longings to Him, then we can be sure that He will reward us. It is like crying out to God.
Prayer: “Father, I am empty, but you are full; I am hungry, but you are the Bread of Life; I am thirsty, but you are the fountain of Life. I am broken but you are whole.”
True fasting is more than merely abstaining from food. It’s more than appearing to be humble before God. It’s more than yearning for answers to prayer about some great personal need or a need in the life of another. It’s more than a time of seeking blessings from God. True fasting causes one to be moved to action on behalf of others as the result of a deep-seated love for God. When we engage in true fasting, we can rightly expect blessings from God and we become blessings to others.
