God's Merciful Mission
A question of fasting has been brought up by this text. What is fasting and should we fast? This is a very interesting question. First of all fasting is the abstinance of food to show our weakness and our dependancy on God. Fasting does not always have to be from food. In scripture their was a fasting from sexual relations (I Corinthians 7:5), from bathing and in the case of Jonah (and Esther) , from even drinking. Fasting is found 61 times in scripture and is a Spiritual discipline to show submission to God.
Here in Jonah, the people fasted in repentance, to show their submission to God. So, what are other reasons to fast?
For Engaging in Prayer for others, or yourself: Daniel 9:3, 16 Daniel prayed for the people of Jerusalem, calling to God on their behalf. We fast and are reminded that God is in control.
To Prepare for a Decision or God's Guidance: In Acts 13:2,3 Paul and Barnabas were set apart for ministry by prayer and fasting. When we have big decisions in life to make, fasting can be a way of showing God that you need his guidence and direction. At the feeling of hunger, we pray for God's guidence.
To Prepare ourselves for Spritual Warfare: Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness to be to be tempted. Matthew 4:1,2. When we are facing battles that seem more spiritual, we must be sure we are calling on God for the support we need.
Those seem to be the most popular reasons in scripture, though I know of many other examples of fasting. Regardless of your reasoning for a fast, the purpose of a fast, like we saw in Jonah 3, is to remind ourselves that we are not God, but we desperately need him.
aaron
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