Fast Day 17: Clinging

A child clings to its parent because it cannot imagine life without one. The parent is the source of food, love, and physical touch. They are the voice that calms and commands and cares. In the same way, we must cling to God. He is our life source and He holds on to us closely!

You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him, and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 13:4

With passion I pursue and cling to You. Because I feel Your grip on my life, I keep my soul close to Your heart. Psalms 63:8 (TPT)

We are a little more than halfway through our 30 day fast and it is at this time that we may start to feel it a drudgery, a struggle and more hard work than we thought. Hang in there and cling to your desire for starting this fast! Better yet, cling to God and remember how He whispered in your ear and promised you change in your life.

Don’t focus on the “giving up” fasting part of your commitment, but focus on the “replace with” prayer part. This may be just the right time to expand your thoughts and ideas of what that replacement really could be. I know that without returning the grip God has on us and our lives, without clinging to Him, my fast will always be just another diet.

So, however you have constructed the prayer part in your fast, consider what more passionate prayer could look like to replace the hunger you are feeling.

In one of my favorite books, Clinging, Emilie Griffin describes clinging and prayer this way:

When we begin to pray, He prays in us. It is His power and grace that help us pray, ’til we don’t know where we leave off and He begins. We yield. And when that yielding comes, we find that all the prayers made up since time began are swept aside and something new occurs. Something happens now for the first time between the Lord and us, something springs from His reality and our response, from His identity and ours in Him. We do not speak. He speaks. We do not ask. He asks. He is the music that fills the universe, and we – with our first fumbling steps – now catch the rhythm of the dance.

So at the same time that we are clinging to God, we are relaxing and yielding into His embrace because we are learning that He will grip and hold us and He won’t let go. We cannot speak or put into words what we are really feeling, but we hear Him sharing with us those things we always wanted to know. He fills our empty places and empty hearts with love and truth and true reality.

The psalmist adds some intensity by stating that he will cling with passion to God and he will pursue God with passion. Spiritual passion is a strong internal emotion that inspires devotion and dedication. It’s what makes it easier to stick to it, to follow through, and to enjoy, not just endure.

What could clinging look like for you?

What is one more thing you could put into place to ensure devotion to the end of your fast?

Father, I am counting on You to never let go and I want to cling to You for the rest of my life. I yield to Your grip and my ears are open to Your voice. Speak to me. Be my music and my dance. Amen.