I’ve reached that wonderful age where I need a colonoscopy every few years to screen for colon cancer. Anyone 45 or older or with a family history of colon cancer needs to get this done periodically, because it can save your life. Still, it’s not something any of us look forward to.
The colonoscopy procedure itself was a piece of cake. I slept through the whole thing. The hard part was the fasting that came before. Nothing but fluids for 24 hours, including this “delicious” concoction called GoLytely. Yuck!
Now, I’ve never been a big fan of fasting. I know it offers some amazing benefits, including weight loss, blood sugar control, and lower blood pressure, but I love food too much to enjoy it. I love the taste, the texture, the smell of good food and going without for a whole day was torture. Thankfully, the colonoscopy went well, so I won’t have to do it again for 7 years.
The Bible, in Isaiah 58, tells us God’s not a big fan of fasting either, at least not the way too many of His people do it. Too often we fast just to make ourselves look good. Many times this kind of fasting doesn’t make us any holier, just grumpier, ending “in quarreling and strife….” No wonder God asks, “Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?”
There is a kind of fast which is pleasing to God, however, and it has nothing to do with starving ourselves to death. He says, “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 them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
God wants us to fast from our selfishness. He wants us to put the needs of others above our own and fast from “the pointing finger and malicious talk”. He says, “spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed”. If we do this God promises to light our way in the darkness, guide our steps, and provide for our every need. Then when we call, “the Lord will answer…and he will say: ‘Here am I.”
Fasting can have amazing benefits, both physically and spiritually, but only when you do it right. Ask God to show you the kind of fast He has chosen for you today. If you do “then you will find your joy in the Lord” and, believe me, there’s no joy quite like that!