A Hunger for God
Friday, March 5th, 2010 | Lent Meditations
Many people choose something to give up, or “fast from”, for Lent—chocolate, meat on Fridays, Facebook, and so on. But why do we fast? What is the purpose behind it? It’s not to make us feel holy. It’s not because fasting itself is pleasing to God. No, fasting itself is not the goal; it’s just one means to the end of cultivating deeper relationship with God. How can fasting help us do this?
One of the best answers I have found to this question of why we fast is in the book A Hunger For God by John Piper. In it, he references a parable Jesus tells about a farmer sowing seed on different types of soil. Maybe you have heard this story before. If not, you can read it in Mark 4:1-20. At the end, Jesus talks about how sometimes “desires for other things” choke out the seed (His word) that has sprouted in us.
About this, Piper says:
“Desires for other things”—there’s the enemy. And the only weapon that will triumph is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with “other things.” Perhaps, then, the denial of our stomach’s appetite for food might express, or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God.
As Americans we are so well-off that we almost never have to go without food. Whenever we experience hunger, we satisfy ourselves almost immediately. The point of fasting is to help us understand what Jesus meant when He said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” It is to help us experience the pain of hunger (or desire for whatever we are fasting from), and in the face of that pain, say: God is more than enough!
Father God, please help me to desire You deeply, knowing that You alone can satisfy. Please fill me today with Your grace and help me experience You as more than enough.
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