Fasting in the Bible Day 12: Jesus

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4: 1-4

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that you might not have tried before. I have done a forty-day sugar fast every January for three years. I can’t say it’s easy, but it does get easier. In this fast I still eat meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and nuts. I still eat. So there is really no need for wearing a gloomy face (Matt 6:16), but I’m here to tell you that the Hangry Sugar Dragon is real!  

The Gospels agree that Jesus did a forty-day total food fast! It is not clear if He did drink water, but as He was fully human as well as fully divine, He probably did. We desperately need water after about 21 days. And as in any endeavor where God is sincerely sought and soon to be glorified, the devil shows up. He tempted Jesus to use His divine power to break His commitment to fast. Instead, Jesus answered with a powerful Scripture from Deuteronomy.

There are many places in Scripture that tell us our bodies are linked to our spiritual souls (1 Corinthians 6:19), so we know that hunger is not merely a physical state. Jesus describes His physical hunger as a pointer to a far more important hunger, a spiritual hunger for the word of God. 

So, His true hunger is a hunger for truth. There are many things that we accept as truths that are not specified in the Bible: Scientific truths, medical truths and electronic truths. But we are privileged to have the truths of being human, being spiritual, becoming mature, becoming transformed and becoming His servant written down in the Bible and recognized by us as we read and pray. He speaks to us and if we are truly hungry, we hear and we act. 

Jesus did not turn the stones into bread, so in the rest of the chapter we read about how the devil tempted Him some more. And Jesus again responded with Scripture, with the bread of the words of God. The true bread that satisfies fully. 

You might try totally fasting for a day to get the feel of being truly hungry. Or maybe just imagine what it might be like.

What emotions or thoughts might run through your head?

Most people feel an overwhelming focus on food and the need to be filled. If we are overwhelmingly focused on God and our need to be filled with His words, what might we do differently in our day?

How might we share His words and speak truth into the lives of people who don’t know that their soul hunger could be filled by Him?    

Father God, help me to feel and feed my hunger for You. Fill me in such a way with Your words of truth and love that my soul overflows and feeds others in my life. Amen.