I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. Daniel 10:3
“Even if we wanted to, we could not manipulate God. We fast and pray for results, but the results are in God’s hands. One of the greatest spiritual benefits of fasting is becoming more attentive to God — becoming more aware of our own inadequacies and His adequacy, our own contingencies and His self-sufficiency — and listening to what He wants us to be and do. Christian fasting, therefore, is totally antithetical to, say, Hindu fasting. Both seek results; however, Hindu fasting focuses on the self and tries to get something for a perceived sacrifice. Christian fasting focuses on God. The results are spiritual results that glorify God — both in the person who fasts and others for whom we fast and pray.”
Elmer Towns in The Daniel Fast for Spiritual Breakthrough (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2010) Day 17, 183.
When this posts, I am somewhere between Pakistan and USA.
This meditation seemed fitting as I travel from a region dominated by Islamic and Hindu beliefs where fasting aims to get something. Alternatively, Daniel fasted for 21 days to humble himself before God and to gain understanding.
I pray as we fast during Lent that we will become more attentive and attuned to God.
And I pray that as Islamic and Hindu people fast, that somehow, by the Holy Spirit, that the Heavenly Father would draw them close to Jesus, the only one who can fulfill their deepest longings.