Thursday, February 02, 2006

A Hunger for God


"If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestations of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great". -John Piper
" If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or increase, our soul's appetite for God."
Back in last May, I was visiting a friend's church "The Open Bible Church" in the bay area. They had a John Piper book, that I had not seen before. "A Hunger for God" is the name of the book. A book on 'desiring God through fasting and prayer'. I purchased the book, and I decided to both read the book and try going on a fast. Now, on one hand you could count how many times I have fasted in my life. It is not a spiritual discipline that I have a handle on. I have found it very profitable though in the past. Usually the reasons why I have fasted, were because I needed direction in my life and/or there were big decisions to be made in my life. I have a humble, humiliating, funny story to go with my fasting in last May. On May 15, my pastor delivered a sermon in titled "Dying Well". Pastor Dale mentioned in his sermon, that whenever the pastor preaches on the subject of "death" or on "dying", we think perhaps we have jinx ourselves, and that someone close to us so now going to die. So we all ask ourselves, alright who is going to die now?
After church, a friend and I went to a local restaurant. I had just fasted for 14 days. Mistake one, don't try eating meat, when coming off a long fast. It is strange after two or three days you loose your hunger. I was not hungry, just wanted to celebrate coming off the fast. Mistake two. Don't eat fast. Eat very slow when coming off a fast. Normally I am a pretty slow eater. This day however I was eating quite fast. Again not because I was hungry, rather I had forgotten how good food tastes, so there I was enjoying all the deferent kinds of food flavors and textures. Mistake three. When fasting for a while the saliva juices slow way down, so drink plenty of fluids and again eat very slow. I was eating some meat when, all of a sudden, I swallowed some meat prematurely, and it got lodge in my throat. I started to choke, I reached for some water. Time slowed way, way, way down. My thought was, should I drink some water to make it down further, then I began to choke more. Now every eye in the restaurant was upon me, my friend was standing over me at this time wondering and asking me if he should do the heimlich maneuver. I am trying to tell him no. I could still breath, but not very well. I was wondering at the same time if this would be the day that I would die. Then finally I was able to cough up the chunk of meat. Talk about embarrassment, and humiliation. We did laugh, and we talked more about the sermon on, "Dying well". The day I almost died on some well done meat.
Back to the subject of fasting. Why fast? There are many good reason for this practice. Primarily though for creating an appetite for God. Piper in his book ..."Invites us to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: "THIS MUCH, O GOD, I WANT YOU."
Fasting feeds your faith...Your confidence begins to deepen. Your hope begins to rise, for you know you are doing what pleases the Lord. Your willingness to deny self and voluntarily to take up this added cross kindles an inner joy. Your faith begins to lay hold of God's promise more simply and more firmly.-Mighty Prevailing Prayer,P. 189.
Is fasting ever a bribe to get God to pay more attention to the petitions? No, a thousand times no. It is simply a way to make clear that we sufficiently reverence the amazing opportunity to ask help from the everlasting God, the Creator of the universe, to choose to put everything else aside and concentrate on worshiping, asking for forgiveness, and making our requests know-considering His help more important than anything we could do ourselves in our own strength and with our own ideas. -Edith Schaeffer

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