I'm no expert when it comes to fasting, but Julie and I decided to fast this week to express our hunger for God. We are facing some important decisions and we made a plan to use some of our mealtimes for purposes other than eating. Instead of preparing and enjoying meals, we have spent time praying, reading Scripture, and listening.
There are many different ways to fast, so we chose to skip breakfast and lunch each day. Honestly, breaking our fast with dinner each evening has been especially enjoyable. But going without some meals has been pretty eventful too.
After our first day, we tentatively asked each other: "Well, did you hear anything?"
And almost in unison, we both sheepishly answered: "Yeah, I think so. At least there was something."
We didn't, of course, hear any voices. But we did sense some impressions that spoke directly to what we're struggling with. I'm not sure if the fasting had anything to do with the greater sensitivity that we felt - but the fasting could have been the very thing that helped us hear anything at all.
The passage of the Bible that I worked through on that first day was Psalm 43. I'm reading through the Psalms (again!), and I just happened to be on that one. As a conversation starter, the book that I'm using as a guide suggested this question: What is the solution for the down-hearted? With that question in mind, I read Psalm 43. And then, I answered the question.
This is what I wrote:
The passage of the Bible that I worked through on that first day was Psalm 43. I'm reading through the Psalms (again!), and I just happened to be on that one. As a conversation starter, the book that I'm using as a guide suggested this question: What is the solution for the down-hearted? With that question in mind, I read Psalm 43. And then, I answered the question.
This is what I wrote:
What is the solution for the down-hearted?
Well, the first thing I notice is that the psalmist is painfully honest about his heartache.
There is no effort here to hide his pain and disappointment.
In that pain, the psalmist turns to God.
He acknowledges God as his hope and his haven.
The psalmist then asks for God's light and truth.
God's light, the psalmist believes, will show the way.
God's truth, the psalmist believes, will endure.
The psalmist is confident that God will lead him . . . where?
Well, the psalmist is confident that God will lead him . . .
to God's holy mountain, to the place where God is, to God himself!
The ultimate "solution" is . . . worship.
The end of the struggle is . . . praise.
Well, the first thing I notice is that the psalmist is painfully honest about his heartache.
There is no effort here to hide his pain and disappointment.
In that pain, the psalmist turns to God.
He acknowledges God as his hope and his haven.
The psalmist then asks for God's light and truth.
God's light, the psalmist believes, will show the way.
God's truth, the psalmist believes, will endure.
The psalmist is confident that God will lead him . . . where?
Well, the psalmist is confident that God will lead him . . .
to God's holy mountain, to the place where God is, to God himself!
The ultimate "solution" is . . . worship.
The end of the struggle is . . . praise.
And that's what God said to me through Psalm 43. And here's what I was left with. For my part, I should probably care less about receiving an answer from God, and focus more on God. Most of all, I should give myself to the praise of God. I already know that God's ways are beyond me. I already know that God owes me nothing - not even an answer. So all I can do is . . . praise him.
As I think about that conclusion, it dawns on me that Job learns that very same lesson. After all the sadness and after all the demands and after all the searching and after all the hard questions . . . Job worships God. He simply worships God. And that is enough.
Will God give me answers? Who knows? Maybe he will, and maybe he won't. Without question, though, he will give me himself.
And with or without an answer, I will praise him.
As I think about that conclusion, it dawns on me that Job learns that very same lesson. After all the sadness and after all the demands and after all the searching and after all the hard questions . . . Job worships God. He simply worships God. And that is enough.
Will God give me answers? Who knows? Maybe he will, and maybe he won't. Without question, though, he will give me himself.
And with or without an answer, I will praise him.