Fasting Prayer

 

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Daniel 9:3

Three times in two days God brought up the subject of fasting and praying. When something comes up more than once I figure maybe I had better think about it.

Then, I was invited to pray about a situation. The one doing the inviting also felt the issue was big enough in her life that she was going to fast.  She had recently read the Book of Daniel and was following Daniel’s example.

Driven to Pray

In Daniel 9:2 Daniel understands, from the Word of God, that the exile is about to be over. That realization drives him to prayer and fasting. Daniel 9:3, “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.”

Interestingly, most of Daniel’s prayer seems to be confessing the sins of the nation including his own. Daniel 9:15 sums it up this way, “And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.”

Sin and Sacrifice

We are a people who hate to think about our own sin, no less fasting over it. We have been cheered for every effort we make (and we do that with our children). We want to think of ourselves as good people and that often gets affirmed for us. Perhaps on the outside that’s what we look like to others and so that’s what we believe about ourselves.

Fasting is a sacrifice. We sacrifice food so that our spiritual attention is keener.  When we deprive ourselves of food, we can begin to focus on the harder things to think about. When we fast for a purpose and we get hungry, we are being reminded to remember the fast. A fast without a specific purpose is spiritually useless.

Confession of sin is also a sacrifice. Spiritually, we are sacrificing that deceived image of ourselves as “good” for the truth that we are sinners before a Holy God. Daniel took this seriously for the whole nation of Israel who was living in exile in Babylon.

As I was thinking about fasting and praying I realized that Daniel’s confession of his sin, and the sins of the nation, was an act of humility.  It would have been much easier to see the sin of others. Israel had been taken from their land and exiled. Daniel had it better than some. He was in the palace serving the king. That wasn’t true for all. But, he didn’t point God to the sin of Babylon. He prayed with fasting for his own sin and the sin of his people.

Sadly, I am quick to see the sins of others and slow to see my own. I am wondering if the emphasis on fasting and prayer is so God can clear my mind and get me to concentrate on my own need for confession, rather than bitterness over someone else’s sin.

Daniel said his prayers were for “Your own sake, O Lord”? Perhaps some of the reason that Daniel received insight and understanding was because his eyes were on the glory of God and not just relief from his own situation.

What I’ve learned over the years is that all things that are for God’s glory are also for our good. If God was glorified in the confession of sin through Daniel, then my prayer friend is on to something in following his example. Her call was what I needed to get me thinking about God and His purposes in fasting and praying.

I pray it’s also food for thought for you.