Fasting???!!!

Fast. The four letter word of Christianity. How it makes me squirm and sweat! I want it to be an old testament practice so I don't have to mess with it. BUT Jesus words clearly call me to the practice: "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." And He fasted FORTY days! So then, I must fast. My normal method is to just fast food...and drink a variety beverages to "keep up my strength."

 This, however, from Mark Buchanan's "Your God is Too Safe" convicted me: "The Fast God chooses teaches us to have his heart for the hungry, the oppressed, the naked, the homeless. It's to motivate us to do good works, God-works...what Isaiah calls repairing broken walls. When we taste a little brokenness ourselves, we have a greater sense of urgency to repair for others what is broken. Fasting is meant to scour our gut. It is God's intent that we would feel the pangs of hunger,the gnawing emptiness, the dizziness and weariness. That's how a third of the world lives. And if we never live that way even briefly, how will we learn to care for the least of these? Without hunger, our consumption will lead us deeper and deeper into acts of oblivious or intentional neglect, abuse, or exploitation of those who are hungry. Fasting gives us a small taste of what their world is like, a taste we will never get if we do not for a time forsake the taste of food."

 Ouch! Dizziness? Weariness? How will I make it through my work day? How will I function with customers? I am a serious wimp. I am an overfed American. My flesh rules me. How embarrassing. From Isaiah 58:5-9
"Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousnessa will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

So my flesh can scream and pout like a tantrum-throwing child, but I will let the humility of my weakness press me into God and I will drink only water. Help me, Lord. Teach me your ways and your path. Let me care more about your heart and my spiritual journey than satisfying my weak flesh.