Everyday Fasting
I have this theory. It’s just a theory, but see what you think. I have a hunch that if someone did some research, they would discover that potluck lunches would rank higher on peoples’ lists of favorite church activities than would fasting. What do you think? Do I have it right?
There was a church in the Midwest in which a time of fasting was talked about. One of the members was overheard as saying that he planned to participate by beginning his fast after supper that night and ending it the next morning at breakfast. Needless to say, fasting was not a popular activity with him.
Anyway, fasting is important, and you might be surprised by how important. Let’s take a deeper look into the topic of fasting. However, we’re not going to look at fasting from food particularly, but at fasting as a principle in wise decision making—especially regarding little decisions that we make every day.
The Big Impact of Little Choices
How much difference do little choices make? They make big differences. Take eating pork, for example. According to Ted Broer—bio-chemist, licensed nutritionist, and author—a mainstay of the peoples’ diet in medieval Europe was lard pie, which, Broer says, weakened the peoples’ immune systems, making them susceptible to the Black Death when it swept through. However, the Jews in Europe, he goes on to say, “who did not eat pork fat pie weren’t dying from the Black Death. In fact, a great persecution arose against the Jews because the victims of the plague thought the ‘healthy Jews’ had placed a curse on them.”[1]
The Jews weren’t thinking about the Black Death when they chose to not eat pork. But when the Plague came, they were ready. Their little choice to consult with divine guidance regarding their diet paid off big!
Little choices do make a big difference. In fact, how we go about making little choices in life—like what we’re going to wear today, or what we’ll have for lunch, or what we’re going to watch on TV tonight—will determine whether we’ll have victory or defeat in times of unexpected, uninvited, big temptation…when everything hangs on our choices.
You might be asking, “What’s fasting got to do with my decision making?” Well, it has everything to do with wise decision making. As we begin our study, let’s define fasting.
Fasting Defined
What is fasting? It is the complete subjugation of appetite to the will. It’s mind over desire. For many people, that represents torture. But others have found it to be not just something to do occasionally, but the foundation for unusually productive and happy lives. How can this be? Let’s take a look. And before we do, let me just say that fasting touches on areas of life that have nothing to do with eating—as you’re about to see. One of the best passages in the Bible that contains invaluable lessons regarding fasting has nothing to do with food at all. Rather, it deals with visual temptations. It is Psalms 101:3. Here it is:
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” (Psalms 101:3).
Digging Deeper
Let’s unpack this a bit.
David will not actively expose himself to visual temptation: “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.” And please notice that his pro-active stance against visual temptation is a zero-tolerance policy: “no wicked thing.” In contemporary terms, this means that David wouldn’t only not watch a bad movie, but neither would he watch a “good” movie that has occasional objectionable content. No theme, no matter how noble, offsets the danger of illicit, tempting, visual content—not even if it’s true, or true to life. Think about it: no one ever knew better than David where doing something like watching a woman do something as innocent as, say, taking a bath, can lead. So, let me ask you: is David’s policy his policy because he is weak…or because he’s wise?
And there’s another important point here. We can’t control what gets set before our eyes all the time. Other people often put things out for us to see that we didn’t ask for—like graffiti on bridges, or immodest pictures on the magazine covers in the check-out lines at grocery stores. However, despite the passive way these things come before us—passive insofar as our actions are concerned—yet we possess full control of where we aim our eyes. And David’s issue is with where we aim our eyes.
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”
Speaking of things that we can look at that are produced by people that “turn aside,” please notice what David doesn’t do. He doesn’t make peace with those things. He doesn’t come to terms with them. He is not desensitized by them—by repeated exposure. The shock and offense these things elicit the first time he encounters them…he never allows to wear off. That which is offensive remains offensive. That which is hateful never ceases to be hated. And this is because David—and no one else—chooses what he allows to become familiar to his eyes.
In contemporary terms, what this means is that as the moral content of television programming changed across its history, at some point David would have opted out of television viewing—with narrowing exceptions as time progressed. It means that when the objectionable productions of Hollywood came out of the theaters and onto prime-time TV—and now into video stores—, he still wouldn’t have watched them. David didn’t need a ratings system to guide his viewing habits. His conscience provided him a guidance system, a screening mechanism, that was more than a match for the visual temptations the world offers.
And by the way, this is important—this point about not needing a ratings system to guide viewing. You see, there are some things that the world’s ratings systems define as innocent, but Jesus would not watch them. I’m sure of it. I found out one evening when I decided to rent a Disney flick called, A Bug’s Life. It was rated G, but it contained violence, atrocious attitudes, and overt, unapologetic sexual innuendo—and all in an animated kids’ movie (and none of which I would want my kids to admire…or copy). I was shocked! So, a little while after my wife gave up on it, so did I. I turned it off and never finished it.
Jesus says, “that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God,” (Luke 16:15). It turns out He’s right. For that reason, then, we need a godly ratings system—one that doesn’t let sin slip through. And the Lord offers one to us. Here it is:
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things,” (Philippians 4:8).
“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”
There’s an important word here. It’s “cleave.” The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “cleave” is insightful. The Hebrew word is pronounced daw-bak’, and Strong’s defines it as, “properly to impinge, i.e. cling or adhere; figuratively to catch by pursuit.”
David understands that the relationship between himself and visual temptation is warfare. If that seems like too strong of a statement, it’s not. Let me illustrate.
Remember Balaam—in the Old Testament story of Israel’s exodus? Balak, king of Moab, was terrified of Israel. He didn’t dare take them on with his army. Balak knew what God had done to Israel’s enemies. So instead of attacking Israel, he hired Balaam to come and curse Israel. Obviously, his intent was to do them evil. But his scheme failed. God overruled and had Balaam bless Israel instead of cursing them. And since Balaam’s pay was dependent upon his cursing God’s people, he got nothing.
Well, Balaam’s greed and disappointment knew no limits. Instead of accepting the fact that God fully intended to bless Israel, Balaam dedicated what he personally knew about God and His relationship with His children to the overthrow of Israel.
By the very words of blessing that the Lord inspired him to say—“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them….Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel,” (Numbers 23:21 & 23)—by these very words He knew that so long as Israel remained obedient and loyal to God, no one and nothing could touch them. So, he drew up a plan to lure Israel into apostasy…and destruction.
With his plan in mind, Balaam—this man who had turned aside—went back to Balak and suggested, of all things, a war…of friendship. And his plan was successful. 24,000 Israelites lost their lives (Numbers 25:9) in the aftermath of his treacherous plan! The Bible describes Balaam’s plan, once in operation, this way:
“And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods,” (Numbers 25:1 & 2).
Speaking of this event, Patriarchs and Prophets says:
“At first there was little (contact) between the Israelites and their heathen neighbors, but after a time Midianitish women began to steal into the camp. Their appearance excited no alarm, and so quietly were their plans conducted that the attention of Moses was not called to the matter. It was the object of these women, in their association with the Hebrews, to seduce them into transgression of the law of God, to draw their attention to heathen rites and customs, and lead them into idolatry. These motives were studiously concealed under the garb of friendship, so that they were not suspected, even by the guardians of the people.” {PP 454.2}
Not long after, Israel went to war with the Midianites. They killed the men, but the Israelite army spared the women. When they returned from the war to their camp with the captives, Moses chided with them:
“Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD,” (Numbers 31:15 & 16).
Again, Patriarchs and Prophets, commenting on this war says:
“God had sent judgments upon Israel for yielding to the enticements of the Midianites; but the tempters were not to escape the wrath of divine justice. The Amalekites, who had attacked Israel at Rephidim, falling upon those who were faint and weary behind the host, were not punished till long after; but the Midianites who seduced them into sin were speedily made to feel God's judgments, as being the more dangerous enemies….The women also, who had been made captives by the attacking army, were put to death at the command of Moses, as the most guilty and most dangerous of the foes of Israel. {PP 456.2}
So, you see, it was by beautiful, innocent, non-threatening looking, friendly women that Israel was captured and led away from obedience and loyalty to the Lord, and into disaster. So, back to David, who refused to allow the works of them that turn aside to cleave unto him. Is it too much to say the he understands that the relationship between himself and the beautiful, innocent, friendly looking visual temptations that the world sets before his eyes is warfare? By no means. That’s why he maintains his hatred for visual sin. He knows that what these things seek is to catch us, to capture us. They are sinful, yet if they are tolerated, they will get a hold on us and cling to us. It’s just like Proverbs 12:26 says: “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.”
Anesthetizing Tolerance
The battle with seducing elements…is won or lost in the first moments of our encounters with them. Once identified as wrong, they must be turned from immediately, because to allow them to linger in our presence is to allow them to linger in our acceptance; and to allow this for a moment will take the edge off of their offensiveness. And as the offense lessens, the seduction increases—until it’s complete.
Satan knows that if he can hold us in indecision regarding rejecting and denouncing sin long enough, we never will. Sin will become so familiar that at the least we will pluralistically accept it, and at the worst we’ll advocate its virtue! (By the way, if he can make “tolerance” the watchword of any culture—nationally, or just in a church—he will be able to demoralize and corrupt that culture.)
There is something appealing about sin—and not just to the wicked. After all, the righteous could not be seduced by the sins of the ungodly if nothing about their sins appealed to them, right? Of course. And exactly right here is where things get tricky. It is right here—as the righteous stand before desirable sins—that the moral preparations that they have made beforehand will fully reveal themselves and their worth.
What do I mean by moral preparations? There are two.
The Anatomy of Victory…and Defeat
People with moral values have definitions. They define some things as good, and some things as bad. Moreover, moral people seek those things that they define as good, and seek to avoid the things they define as bad. As they make oft-repeated choices based on their moral definitions, they establish habits. These habits, then, become one of the moral preparations they make in life—that prepare them for victory of defeat in future moral encounters.
There is, however, a moral preparation that takes place even before any choices are made in moral battles. Guess what it is? The ultimate moral preparation takes place when we choose what will define good for us, and what will define bad. And cutting to the chase, let me just say, there are only two things that people possess that are capable of perceiving—of discriminating between—good and bad, safe and dangerous: feelings and thinking.
Consider: a two-year-old child, who has never received a single day’s instruction in either biology or chemistry or physics, puts his hand on a hot wood stove. As it burns his hands, does he define the stove as good or bad, as safe or dangerous? The fact that he draws his hand away from the stove tells us the answer. And here’s the question: as he comes to define the stove as “bad,” as dangerous, is it his thoughts or his feelings that tell him so? It’s his feelings—his very nerves.
On the other hand, in this century, as doctors no longer consider bleeding as an effective treatment for fevers—like they did in George Washington’s day—, is it because their feelings tell them so…or because their thinking tells them so? Obviously, it’s their thinking. For that matter, when they long ago did bleed people for fevers, it was also because their thinking told them so. The difference between then and now that’s made such a difference in treatment, is the level of truth—of fact—that the thinking is based on. Long ago, doctors grappled with uninformed theories. Today, doctors are more acquainted with the facts of physiology.
All told, both feelings and thinking have a valid place in defining safe and dangerous. However, feelings—or, “nonintellectual or subjective human response”—have no reliable jurisdiction in moral matters. Think about it: when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced death by fire if they wouldn’t compromise their allegiance to the Lord, did their feelings argue for loyalty to God…or for compliance with King Nebuchadnezzar’s demand that they bow to his idol? And when they won their moral battle, did they do so in their feelings or in their thinking? They won this moral victory in their minds. And so it is with every genuine moral victory.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed God and trusted in His authority. They accepted His law as right and good, reasonable and relevant, and valid. These three men had a habit of basing their moral definitions and choices on what they believed—on what the thought. Their minds governed their desires and feelings; and in the clutches, the moral preparations they had made came through for them. Without hesitation they refused comfortable, pleasurable compromise, and chose loyalty over life. Talk about a moral victory! And when Jesus saw them do this, He jumped into the fire with them and saved them from all harm.
However, not everyone does as these three wise men did. Many of us never graduate from the two year olds’ school of moral definitions. To us, good is what feels good, and bad is what feels bad. “Good food” to many is defined by how it tastes more than by its nutritional impact on our bodies. Adultery is “bad” when our marriages are gratifying to us, but becomes “reasonable” when things go hard. We look like heroes of faith when everyone else agrees with us, but go silent on issues when popular opinion shifts away and puts our pride in an awkward position.
What I’m getting at is that some people allow their feelings to define good and bad, safe and dangerous, for them. And this brings us back to what we saw earlier: as the righteous stand before temptations to indulge in desirable, pleasures sins—i.e. sinful things that are positive to their feelings—, how they have defined good and bad up to this point, and their habitual practice of acting on those definitions of good and bad, derived from either their feelings and desires or from the principles of truth, will fully reveal itself and its worth in their response to these temptations. In other words, if they have made a habit of allowing desire and pleasure and feelings to make their choices as a general rule, they stand an excellent chance of doing the same thing now. Are you with me?
There’s an old saying: “Practice makes perfect.” If the majority of choices that we make in life—for example, about the food we eat, the clothes we wear, about how we spend our money, or how we drive our cars, or what we watch or read or listen to—are based on our feelings, whether we realize it or not, whether we want it to be so or not, we are laying a strong foundation that will eventually reveal itself in our moral choices as well.
“But wait a minute,” you might be saying, “what’s moral about food, or clothes, or any of that other stuff you mentioned?”
The Morality of Everything
Well, I can understand that question. But the real question is, “What’s not moral about them?” Through their dietary habits, most Americans are shortening their own lives. Yet, the moral law of God says, “Thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20:13)—which includes ourselves. The clothes we wear can lead to pride and vanity on our behalf, or maybe lusting on other peoples’ behalf. What’s not moral about that? Do you remember Jesus’ words? He teaches that if a man looks on a woman and lusts after her, he’s committed adultery. And can a woman’s attire make lusting more likely?
Have you ever considered the morality of driving? If how I drive puts other people in a higher state of danger or risk—like speeding, or driving under the influence, or driving distracted by technology—then I steal from people their rightful safety, and risk harming or killing them. And as for the moral nature of what we watch or read or listen to, who can deny that the largest moral desensitization that the world has ever seen is well underway right now, thanks to the advertising and entertainment industries and the various media that disseminate their messages world-wide?
O, there are some morally neutral areas in life. For example, breathing is morally neutral. However, preventing others from breathing clean, pure, healthy air is not. Buying a house is morally neutral. But spending more than is reasonable when others are in need is morally questionable.
What it all boils down to is that we must choose between defining good and bad based on what is personally gratifying to ourselves, or on moral principles—on truths that have a real bearing on our lives and the lives of others. Personal gratification is perceived and experienced in our feelings. Principles, however, are dealt with in our minds. And whichever of these we rely on most often to make decisions in life is the practice that will one day make perfect the habit. And at times of unexpected temptation, our chosen and preferred habit will make itself known—for weal or for woe!
This principle of action is exactly why I have no desire to drive in Jamaica. You see, in Jamaica I discovered that they drive on the other side of the road—to say nothing for how they drive on that other side of the road! Anyway, I am just sure that my lifelong habit of driving on the right side of the road has the very real potential of coming out at a very inopportune time in traffic down there. And that could be disastrous. So, I’m content to ride in Jamaica.
Balance Required
By the way, it’s not supposed to be an either/or proposition. Principle doesn’t have to exclude feelings, and feelings don’t have to exclude principle. Life based exclusively on feelings and desires is selfish. And life based exclusively on principle is sterile—and can be fanatical. Desires are not evil. After all, God is the One who created them. And He didn’t give us desires just for the sake of giving us something to say no to! He’s not trying to torture us. Of the material side of life, to which feelings and desires belong, the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that the Lord, “giveth us richly all things to enjoy,” (1 Timothy 6:17).
If we are to get life right, then, there must be balance in our lives—balance between desires and feeling, and principle. It works like this: the Lord intends that we shall enjoy pleasure in eating. (If He didn’t, He wouldn’t have given us taste buds.) However, the Lord also intends that our food will sustain our lives—not shorten them. And if the food we eat is going to bless us with health and longevity, as opposed to mere pleasure and an early exit, then our minds must be brought to bear upon our choices of food. In other words, principles must govern our pursuit of the gratification of our appetites.
In practical terms, here’s how it works: you’re in the mall and you feel hungry. So, you go in search of something for lunch. As you approach the McDonald’s in the food court, you smell the wonderful aroma of Big Macs and French fries. You remember what a delicious meal they make, especially with a milk shake to go with them. Between the good memories and the wonderful sights and smells of the food, everything inside you wants to go get in line and make an order...until your mind steps up to the plate and reminds you of what you learned about nutrition…at church…What will you do?
In settings such as this, if we make our choices the way God intends that we should, we will permit our minds to exclude choices that our desires would otherwise make. So, instead of McDonald’s, we go next door to, say, the Chinese place, and get vegetables and rice instead. (It still tastes good. It’s just better for us.) And this same dynamic will be seen in every area of life. When we want sex, we’ll have it—but only with our spouses—and then only after we are married to them. If I really want a new car, but the one I have is still good, then I’ll keep my car another year and dedicate the money I save to debt reduction, or funding mission work, or some other noble purpose. If I want attention, then I’ll try to get it for my good attitude and behavior, or noble accomplishments—not by adornments, piercings, tattoos, or multi-colored mohawks, etc.
The devil and the world offer us many temptations. These temptations appeal to our desires and feelings. These temptations come in various sizes. Some are large. Most are small. If the work of those who turn aside is not to seduce us and take us down, then like David we cannot allow our feelings to define what is good and what is bad. Our minds must be given this exalted privilege. Although this is the most elementary level of morality, it is also the most profound in its influence. Our habitual reliance upon the wrong definitions of bad will set us up for advanced moral failure when major winds of temptation blow. What we have been “practicing” in the ordinary choices of life will be “made perfect” in the extraordinary seasons of life. It’s just like Ellen White once wrote:
“The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, who, if they had conquered on this point, would have had the moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail of perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for over six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruit. And as we draw near the close of time, Satan's temptations to indulge appetite will be more powerful, and more difficult to resist.” {CTBH 154.2}
(This reference is to the book Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene.)
Preparing for Critical Moments
There’s one last thing. Remember the parable that Jesus told about the man that built his house on the rock, as opposed to the man that built his house on the sand? Well, one of the lessons of that parable is that we can’t change foundations in the storm. If we’re going to succeed in the big moments of life by living by principle then, then we must begin by living by principle now—when it doesn’t seem like it makes any positive difference. It’s just like Jesus said:
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much,” (Luke 16:10).
So, do you see the connection between Psalms 101:3 and fasting? When pleasure is allowed to bear sway in our lives and principle is little consulted, we stand a better-than-even chance of being snared by the enemy.
How we make the little decisions in life—like what we’re going to wear today, or what we’ll have for lunch, or what we’re going to watch on TV tonight—will determine whether we have victory or defeat in the times of uninvited, unexpected, big temptation…when everything hangs on our choices.
The habit of making appetite answer to the mind, however, places us on vantage spiritual ground. And so, it turns out that fasting—the complete subjection of appetite and desire to the higher powers of mind and conscience—is not something that true children of God do occasionally. As it turns out, fasting for them is a way of life.
Is it a way of life for you?...for me? It needs to be, doesn’t it? My prayer is that instead of fasting from food occasionally, we will become experts in everyday fasting.
[1] Broer, Ted. Maximum Energy, (Lake Mary, FL: Siloam Press, 1999), 38.