September 22 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

1 Corinthians 7:5:

⁵Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer;....

Devotional:

It is inconsistent that, while among most Protestants fasting is not practised, willingness to live by the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice is readily professed.

Fasting is certainly a Scriptural rule of life not only in the Old but equally in the New Testament. Christ himself fasted forty days and forty nights. In 1 Corinthians 7:5 Paul exhorts the children of God, that they give themselves not only to prayer, but also to fasting. And what, if possible is stronger still, Christ has said that there is a kind of evil spirits, that goeth not out but "by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21).

Over against this, it is true that in the days of Jesus' ministry on earth the question was raised: "Why do the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?" And though on the ground of this it may be assumed that the disciples in those days did not observe the Jewish fasts, nevertheless, this is the reply that Jesus made: "When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they fast" (Mark 2:18-20).

History truly teaches that, from the beginning, fasting has been practiced in the Church of Christ. At Antioch the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, and of this Church at Antioch Acts 13:2 relates, that the Christians there "fasted and prayed," and that while they were doing this, the Holy Ghost gave them a revelation. It is well known that in the Roman, Greek and Nestorian Churches fasting is practised; and it is also known that in Reformation days, days of prayer went hand in hand with fasting.

Is it not inconsistent, therefore, that with the significance which Scripture and history attach to fasting, the practice of it has almost altogether passed into disuse among us, and that neither they who know the Lord in particular, nor the Churches as a body practice fasting as a habit of their religious life?

It is ever our custom, as it was in Israel in the days of Hosea, to say: "My God, we Israel know thee" (Hosea 8:2); but is there not something lacking, when Scripture shows us that the knowledge of God is mightily advanced by prayer, and prayer by fasting, if we, who say that we know God, nevertheless neglect to fast?

The answer to this question lies in Isaiah 58:6.

In the days of Isaiah there was much fasting done in Judah, and yet Jehovah testified by his Prophet, that He did not accept such a fast, and then follows: "Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul, to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?" Upon which it further follows: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to deal thy bread to the hungry, when thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily."

This striking protest against dead formalism, also in fasting, has justly aroused among us a sense of aversion to the formal practice of it. Fasting as a form, fasting as a purely bodily exercise, fasting as an exhibition before the world, does not sanctify; indeed, it can work profanation. Hence Jesus' warning in the sermon on the mount: "But thou when thou fastest, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, but anoint thine head, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret." Forsooth, this is an admonition, to which is added with equal emphasis: "And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."

As sharply as Jesus turns himself against formal, outward fasting, with equal emphasis He puts His seal upon godly fasting, and says that by grace it has its reward with God.

Hence we are safe only, when, on the one hand, we oppose dead formalism in fasting, and, on the other hand, bring into practice the real fasting, which has been appointed of God.

And when you examine your own past, and look abroad among the Churches, can you reach any other conclusion than that we have banished dead, formal fasting with scrupulous care, but that with it real, religious fasting, such as God has appointed, has almost utterly vanished?

This accounts for much spiritual loss.

We desire eternal life. "This is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God." This knowledge of the only true God is fed and nourished by nothing so much as by prayer. And it is especially by fasting that prayer becomes more intimate and profound. Is there, then, an escape from the reproachful conclusion, that by our neglect to fast our prayers lose fervency, and that in this way we suffer loss in this ever ripening knowledge of God, which is eternal life?

If this applies to you personally and to your family, must it not equally apply to the Churches? And when one observes, again and again, that in our Churches, too, a whole brood of evil spirits is abroad, which is not driven out except by fasting and prayer, is it too much to say, that the disuse of all fasting is one of many causes that such spirits continue to harass the life of the Church?

Must fasting, then, be introduced again as a rule on a given day of the week? By itself there would be nothing against this; but it is to be feared, that, whether we would or no, it would shortly decline again into formalism.

Fasting, taken spiritually, as appears from Isaiah 58 and 1 Corinthians 5:7 has a much broader basis than a temporary abstinence from food. It aims to deprive the body of its supremacy over the soul, and restore to the soul its dominion over the body.

You know, yourself, that everything that strengthens and cherishes the body, has a tendency to repress the clearness and the elasticity of the life of the soul. The side of our life that is turned toward the world, rarely operates in harmony with the side of our life that is turned toward God.

In solitude, as a rule, you feel yourself closer to your God than in company with society round about you. In the banqueting hall you are farther away from God than in your bedchamber. In the midst of exacting cares to increase wealth, you enjoy less of God's nearness than at the times when you give of your money to the poor. You are closer to your God when you feed the hungry than when with your family or with your guests you feast on choice foods and drinks. In brief, every one's experience confirms the truth that the thought of God comes closer to you the less enjoyment you seek in the world, and that the hidden walk with God becomes the more intimate the farther you get apart from the cares and distractions of the world.

Now, do not infer from this, that in order to know God, you must withdraw yourself altogether from the world.

This is what the stylists thought, the recluses and the contemplative monks. And this is wrong, for although "fasting and prayer" is one of the means to find God, there are a number of other means, which only present themselves in the midst of busy life.

Of these other means we have treated in former meditations. We need not refer to them again. But it must be a permanent rule of our life that we leave no single means unused to make our knowledge of the only true God more intimate and profound, and that thus in the midst of the world we should serve our God and enjoy what He gives us to enjoy in our families and environments, as well as in the practice of "fasting and prayer."

And then it can not be denied, that it is a great help to us, if, from time to time, we detach our soul temporarily from the dominating power of the body and of the world, and thereby make it more susceptible to influences from above. In connection with this, one will feel more impressed with the need of fasting and retirement at set times, and another will only come to it in moments of anxiety and increasing seriousness. In this matter let every one be assured in his own conscience. This depends upon temperament and upon circumstances. Herein let no one judge his brother.

But the matter itself has a right to be introduced into our habit of life.

Your chief interest must be eternal life. This eternal life can only be enjoyed in an ever more intimate knowledge of God. This more intimate knowledge of God, you find more particularly in your hidden life of prayer. And this hidden life of prayer has need, that, in the face of the oppressive supremacy of the body and of your environment, the power of the soul be strengthened by fasting rightly understood.

That sobriety in food and drink is an aid in this direction, is evident from the lack of inclination to pray which you experience upon your return from a banquet hall. But this is merely the beginning of real fasting. It is by no means too rich food and drink alone, but also too great extravagance in ornaments and clothes, all sorts of recreation and gratification of the senses, and, very strongly also, your financial concerns, voluntarily or involuntarily, work the harmful effect that they make the mists between your God and your heart become thicker and darker.

Fasting which shall sanctify prayer and make it more fervent, consists by no means, therefore, alone in depriving the body of food or drink, but equally by generous giving to withdraw one's self from the dominion of one's money, in simplicity and sobriety, in freeing one's self from the supremacy of self-pleasing, and certainly also in seclusion and in releasing one's self from the domination of one's environment.

This is what the Lord testified by Isaiah, when He extended fasting to the loosening of the bands of wickedness and the feeding of the hungry.

From time to time the soul must make itself altogether free, cast away all bands, become altogether itself. Then the gates lift up their heads, then the door of eternity unlocks itself, then God draws near to us, and our soul draws near to God, and the knowledge of our God, which is eternal life, blossoms in the sanctuary of our heart.

This devotional classic offers 110 meditations on a single thought from Psalm 73: "As for me, it is good to be near to God." The author states, "The fellowship of being near unto God must become reality ... it must permeate and give color to our feeling, our perceptions, our sensations, our thinking, our imagining, our willing, our acting, our speaking. It must not stand as a foreign factor in our life, but it must be the passion that breathes throughout our whole existence."

The meditations reflect the blending of spiritual vigor with doctrinal loyalty so consistently expressed in the life of Abraham Kuyper. These are devotions with true substance, avoiding the extremes about which Kuyper adds a word of caution: "Stress in creedal confession, without drinking from the Living Fountain, runs dry in barren orthodoxy, just as truly as spiritual emotion, without clearness in confessional standards, makes one sink in the bog of sickly mysticism."

Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was a Dutch political leader and Calvinist theologian. Elected to parliament in 1874, he became Prime Minister in 1901 and served in that capacity until 1905. As a theologian, he revived a systematic, orthodox Calvinism. He founded the Free Reformed Church and the Free University of Amsterdam. His other works include Principles of Sacred Theology, Lectures on Calvinism, and The Work of the Holy Spirit

Further information about Abraham Kuyper's life can be seen in the translator's "Biographical Note"; further information about To Be Near Unto God can be Abraham Kuyper's "Preface" to that book.