It is taken for granted that even when we are not fasting, we avoid gluttony and do not make a god out of the belly (Philippians 3:19). The Christian must master his appetites, because if he gives way to them in one area of life, he will find them hard to control in other areas. Food is of course not itself evil for it is to be received from God with thanks. It is designed for the maintenance of the body and the act of eating is intended by God to give us pleasure, nevertheless, it must be kept in check. It is as if we have an opportunity to practice self-restraint in this area to help us practice it in other areas where our appetites can lead us into things which are sinful in their own right.
When should we fast? As well as this general level of self-control, there are times of special need when we deny ourselves all food. David fasted and prayed, pleading with the Lord that the life of his child should be spared. He knew that the sickness had come as a discipline for his sin, but he did not know the outcome. He fasted to add urgency to his prayer and to indicate how intensely he desired the answer which only God could give. Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah when the nation was threatened by Moab and Ammon. Ezra proclaimed a fast in asking God for protection from enemies on the road as the people returned to Jerusalem. Esther requested all the Jews to engage in fasting and, no doubt, prayer to the Lord (though this is not mentioned) when her people were under threat from the decree of Haman. All these were times of great need when prayer without fasting would have seemed insufficient because there was more that could be done to express how pressing was their need of the Lord’s help. By fasting we show the Lord that we valued his answer more than our own comfort. Those like Anna, the prophetess, fasted in waiting for the Messiah (Luke 2:37). Christ himself fasted at the start of his ministry during his temptation in the wilderness, and when tempted by the devil to command the stones to be made bread, he answered by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD’. He fasted to demonstrate his total adherence to his Father’s will and his willingness to put the word of God above all his fleshly needs. The disciples of John the Baptist fasted and at one point came to Christ and asked him why his disciples did not also fast like them and like the disciples of the Pharisees (Matthew 9:14). He answered that while he was in the world with them, it would be inappropriate for his disciples to fast because he, the bridegroom, was with them. The implication is that fasting is an act associated with need, lack, shortage, with urgent requests to God, but not with rejoicing and blessing. How could the disciples fast, as those who waited for the Lord’s blessing, when they were already experiencing the greatest blessing of their lives – the presence of the Son of God with them? The disciples of John fasted because they were still awaiting the Messiah and preparing for his coming. The disciples of the Pharisees fasted because they thought it had merit. The apostles could not fast as a way of life, without showing they did not understand who it was they were following. Will there be fasting in heaven? No, of course not! But for the disciples it was heaven on earth to have their Lord living among them. However a time would come when he would be taken away from them, at the crucifixion, and then they would fast; their fasting would be an expression of their sorrow. Yet even before the cross there were occasions when Christ told them fasting would have been appropriate. When they asked why they had been unable to cast out a demon, he says this kind does not come out without prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). At times the Lord sets a hill before us that we must climb; we cannot advance without ascending it. Any attempt to go round it will result in God withholding his blessing. In Acts we see the church fasting and praying for the Lord’s guidance about how to proceed with the evangelisation of the Gentiles (Acts 13:2-3), the appointment of elders (Acts 14:23), and we learn that married couples will from time to time abstained from normal relations in order to fast and pray in seeking the Lord’s answer to some urgent need (1 Corinthians 7:5). The apostle Paul often fasted, he tells us (2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:27), no doubt, in his prayers for the advance of the work, for those who had come to Christ through his ministry, who were facing various trials, and for his own trials, particularly his sickness for which he sought the Lord’s answer three times. Since fasting is associated with prayer for emergency needs, it is by the nature of the case going to be irregular for we cannot predict when such needs will arise. There are no set fasts in the New Testament as there were in the Old. No one should therefore attempt to bind the consciences of Christians about fasting, for it is entirely voluntary.
Pink asks why a sad countenance is prohibited when in Joel 1:13-14 God tells the priests to lament and wail? What is forbidden, he answers, is not a sorrowful countenance as such but the putting on of a sorrowful countenance in order to win the admiration of men. To be sorrowful in sincerity before God may be highly appropriate.