In chapter 3 of his book, Fasting, Scot McKnight takes us on a simple journey
through the ways the Bible describes the sacred discipline of fasting. Last
week we explored how the Bible exhorts us to fast for corporate confession,
namely, during events like Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, or seasons such as Lent or Good Friday. Now Scot describes
the biblical example of fasting when God seems absent.
Let’s be honest, each of
us has experienced times and even seasons during which God’s presence is
nowhere to be found. “Most of us know the dryness of prayer or the low ceiling
off which some of our prayers seem to bounce.” It’s during these times that
Holy Scripture exhorts us to sensitively communicate with God through fasting.
In 1 Samuel 4, God’s Word
records for us a time in which God’s presence was actually stolen from God’s
people by their enemies, the Philistines. Specifically, the Ark of the
Covenant, which represents God’s presence, was captured from God’s people by
the enemies of God’s people. Eli, who had guided the Jews for forty years,
heard of the Ark’s demise, fell over backward, broke his neck and died. His
tragic death punctuates the severe trauma God’s people were enduring at the
hand of the Philistines. This was a grievous moment for the Israelites and this
grief created a dark momentum that Samuel responds to in chapter seven, with
these words to the people.
“If you are returning to the Lord with
all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you
and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you
out of the hand of the Philistines.” So the people of Israel put away the Baals
and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. Then Samuel said, “Gather all
Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you” (1 Sam 7.3-5, ESV).
So the people
gathered at Mizpah and fasted together as a way of responding to the horror of
the departure of God’s presence, the tragedy of Eli’s death and to confess
their sins to God.
When tragedy
strikes us, when God’s presence seems to depart from us, when our life of
prayer has stalled, the example God’s Word sets forth is to turn our bodies
toward the direction our souls are feeling as a way of seeking the presence and
victory of God. Although this must not motivate our fast (remember fasting is
responsive), this way of seeking God’s presence and victory often ushers in the
presence and victory of God (cf. 1 Sam 7.6-12).
Has God’s presence
been stolen away from you by an enemy? Has tragedy made it difficult to enter
into communion with God in ways you have known before? Has to busyness of life
relegated the life of faith to near absence? I exhort you to read and meditate
on 1 Samuel 4-7 and ask the Lord to guide your response to the grievous absence
of God’s presence in your life.
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