So I spent all day Saturday afternoon praying fervently, reading the Word, spending time in worship, and all that good jazz. I kept declaring I was NOT getting sick and that I would be well for the Sunday service at Grace. Mind you this was all happening while I was in bed with a fever and aching all over my body, so it wasn’t at all clear I’d be in any shape to be there the next morning.

But sure enough, come morning, my fever had broken, I felt way better, and I trundled off to church with instruments in tow. Everything went swimmingly at the worship service. Praise God! And come afternoon, I was feeling pretty fine! Monday I telecommuted from home just to get a bit of rest, but yesterday I went down to the office in San Francisco and really thought I was doing OK.

But late in the evening, I started feeling crummy again, this time in regards to congestion (as well as fatigue). Today I’m again working from home and not feeling so hot. It’s not a huge deal, but I certainly don’t feel healthy.

The reason I’m sharing this with you is…I don’t know. Why would God miraculously stave of my illness for a time and then let me get it later? Mysterious. But nevertheless, I serve a good and awesome Father, and I refuse to blame Him for any of my misfortune. And nothing I can go through here, especially a little sinus difficulty, is even remotely comparable to what my Savior went through 2,000 years ago. Nothing matters when I contemplate the glorious riches we have in Christ our Lord!

My original, faulty understanding of what a fast looks like was that you don’t eat and possibly don’t drink anything for days on end, and since it’s dangerous you only want to do it in drastic circumstances as the Lord leads. For instance, Jesus’ food fast in the wilderness for 40 days, or Esther’s food/drink fast for 3 days — definitely “out there”. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, and in fact, some people today go on fasts such as these. The most I’ve fasted is two days, drinking only purified water, and that alone was a physical strain — though an amazing spiritual experience.

No, the real definition is simple: refrain from doing something you normally do for a period of time and dedicate that time to the Lord. Usually that involves food. The Bible records that Daniel fasted for a time from meats, so it wasn’t a complete food fast. Some people fast from all food and water for a short period of time, which can be pretty drastic. Another concept of fasting can be related to other activities in a Sabbath-like manner. For instance, I and other people I know have gone on “media fasts”, where we refrain from watching TV or surfing news sites or listening to talk radio, or whatever. You’d be surprised how difficult that is…in a way, even more so than giving up food!

So, why fast? I’ll leave that to a future post, but I can give you a personal answer right now: every time I fast, I never regret it. Giving up physical sustenance and trusting in the Lord for spiritual sustenance is one of the best things you can ever do in life. It’s the opposite action of a selfish man.