Hungry and Thirsty for Another

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Matthew 5:6

Literally, to hunger for God and to thirst for God.

To live for one second acknowledging the reality that just as I hunger and thirst for food and drink to sustain the energy of my life, so should I strive after the Word of God and His Spirit alive inside of me to sustain my soul.

When do we do this? For myself, hardly ever.

It is no wonder Christ says,  “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

Do we do this? Is this the reality in which we live? I know for me it isn’t.

But what if we did?

What if, for even the briefest of moments, we acknowledged the fabric of our existence is made up of more than what is tangible to us?

That I might mortify every evil desire my flesh has (though they are not inherently evil, but how they drive me to wanton complacency!) and turn my existence to Him that upholds the universe in the palm of His hand, yet still knows the ever-dwindling number of hairs on my head.

To tell my flesh it is not in control of my life, but that I live for Another, for the One who ordains my very existence; to Him do I fast, to Him do I throw my attention and favor – if even for the briefest of moments – that I might trade my temporal longings for even a glimpse of eternal Glory in His name.

Literally; to hunger and to thirst.

To know what it is to be desperate for God.

To know what it is to recognize my Lord as my portion, my fulfillment, my greatest want and need.

Fasting in the early church

2While 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.” 3So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Acts 13: 2-3

Fasting here is seen the light of preparation and prayerful dedication; one turns all his affections away from any earthly distraction and towards an understanding of what the Lord would have for their life.

The gravity of the role the early apostles undertook – that of setting the foundation for the very church Christ said He would build (Matthew 16:18) – rested heavily and mightily on the shoulders of the apostles.

They saw to it that is was a role they did not take lightly, but that every inch of their existence would be turned in seeking and wanting God’s guidance and direction made so very clear in their life. They desired any distraction be removed for the sake of more clearly understand their place in His kingdom.

Paul said in Him we live and move and have our being, and that He is so near, that if we were to reach out we could almost touch Him (Acts 17: 27-28).

How else to ensure we live daily in that reality than to understood who really gives us the breath in our lungs. Temptation exists to depend on earthly quantities to fill us, and in doing so we forget about the Lord who commanded those quantities to grow in the first place.

But truly, in Him we live, and in Him we move, and in Him we have our being.

To fast is to heighten our awareness of how much we truly depend on God, and to seek to live in that awareness more and more every day.

To fast is to turn every ounce of our existence to God and away from what distracts us.

To fast is to take seriously His call on our life.

I am reminded of the old hymn:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of Earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

How NOT to fast

1″Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
16″When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6: 1, 16-18

Our Lord, fearing the abuse on our behalf of things He means for His glory, instructs us as to the motivations and manners through which we should fast.
Mosaic law prescribed one fast annually – the Day of Atonement. The Pharisees added two fasts weekly, Mondays and Thursdays, and used them as occasions for public displays of piety.

It wasn’t hard to spot one who was fasting; tradition held that an individual who was fasting would tear their clothing, wear sackcloth, and douse themselves with dust and ashes. Often, the mournful faster would allow their hair to become messy, and would refrain from bathing for a period.

The true function of fasting, however, was to indicate deep repentance and contrition, expressed through the temporary devoting of all one’s energies to prayer and spiritual communion. But fasting that requires a spectator is mere acting.
Jesus saw to eliminate such acting, and therefore prescribed that an individual should fast in an inward sense – refuse food and drink for the purposes of pursuing God all the more fully, all the while ensuring his outward appearance gave no indication of, “Behold! I love my God so much I am refusing to eat! I am the holiest of the holy that walk among us!”

Jesus desired to deal with the heart and not merely external appearances. For this reason He intended that outward signs of fasting were not enough, intending instead that the individual in the middle of a fast would forego the typical outwards signs of a fast. He wanted the heart, and for that reason the show of sorrow was not enough, but the change of heart.

Jesus didn’t intend for us to give up sweets for the 40 days before Easter.

He intended for us to give up any allegiance to any earthly thing, instead turning our affection, devotion, and reliance to Him and Him alone.

It makes me wonder: what other activities do I engage in on a daily basis from an external sense alone?

Do I truly love my wife with all my available thought and energy, or do I go through the motions?

Do I minister with a full outpouring of my being, or do I give lip service?

Do I pray from the most inward parts of my heart, or do I recite my top-10 list of wants?

Do I passionately pursue God with every ounce of my being, or do I do the “church thing” and leave it at that?

Christ seems to be using fasting as a microcosm for our entire walk: fast not in an outward appearance alone, but with everything you are; pursue His Glory through renouncing earthly restraints.

In the same way, live your entire life fully devoted to knowing Him and seeing His face; don’t be a surface Christian, but understand the implications His life inside of us has, understand life is 100% spiritual and its every facet is important to Him.

Christ’s Fast

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry
-Matthew 4:1-2

The Greek verb here (nesteuo) refers to the voluntary act of abstaining from food.

Jesus left for the desert in submission to the guiding of the Holy Spirit for a time of prayerful preparation.

Jesus’ public ministry was marked by solemn times of solitary prayer, where He might go and be still before His Father and commune with Him. This instance in Matthew 4 is the first and most extreme example of this. Following the commencement of His earthly ministry and preceding the temptation by the Evil One in the wilderness, Jesus retreats for the purposes of meditation, contemplation, and purposed focus on God.

Christ’s fast was an example of humility – just as He stepped out of His heavenly throne room to take up an abode on this planet, so did He for 40 days forsake food and water as a means to focus Himself on the desires and purposes God had for Him here.

He later replies to the Evil One,”It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” quoting Deut. 8:3, and pointing us to the true sustenance of our existence.

Not food, not water, not temporal joys and pleasures, but the very Word of God is that which fills us, inspires us, and keeps us for His purposes.

We are told in Acts 17:28, “In Him we live and move and have our being.”

Christ is making no mistake here in clearly displaying this reality.