Fasting in the Bible Day 2: Samuel

Samuel spoke to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the LORD with all your heart, remove your idols of foreign gods and images of Ashtoreth from among you. Direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone, then He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” So the people of Israel removed their Baal idols and images of Ashtoreth and worshiped the Lord alone. Then Samuel said, “Gather all the people of Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the LORD for you.” They assembled at Mizpah, and in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the LORD. They also fasted on that day, confessing, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel led the sons of Israel at Mizpah and in all that they did going forward. 1 Samuel 7: 3 – 6

Why did Samuel ask the nation of Israel to meet and fast?

Here is some background from 1 Samuel: Hannah could not have children, but when she prayed fervently in the temple one year, God told Israel’s priest, Eli, to prophesy that she would finally conceive, and she did. Hannah’s joy prompted her to send her first son, Samuel, to be raised as a priest in Eli’s household. Because Eli’s own sons were wayward priests, Samuel was called by God to be the next prophet of Israel. But when the Philistines attacked Israel, the people’s faith was almost nonexistent and the LORD allowed the Philistines to win, and eventually capture the ark of the covenant. This knowledge killed Eli and Samuel then became Israel’s prophet in the eyes of the people. The ark was housed in the Philistine temples of five different cities and many people of each city died from strange tumors. So the Philistines sent the ark back to Israel, along with a guilt offering. The ark was finally housed in Kiriath and looked after by Eleazar for twenty years. During this long period of time the whole of Israel began to mourn for the former preeminence of God in their land and that they were still under the rule of the Philistines and the influence of its evil gods. And after this gathering at Mizpah, God allowed the armies of Israel to defeat the Philistines, confusing them with thunder from the heavens!

Samuel was ready to lead the people of Israel back to God!

For those who wanted to return to God with all their heart, Samuel instructed them to:

1. remove their idols,

2. worship only God,

3. gather together,

4. sacrifice the water of life,

5. fast

6. confess their sin.

In this context, fasting is only part of what Samuel called them to do, but it set the tone of sacrifice. So they went without food and water for that day, as part of the ceremony that emphasized their return to God.

As part of our New Testament covenant, we are God’s holy priests and don’t need to hear God only through them (1 Peter 2: 9). So, when you feel you are off track in your spiritual life, paying attention to the things of this world instead of God, or want to grow even closer to Him, ask Him if some of these things might help you to emphasize your change of heart.

You could physically remove some “idol” in your life or habit that takes up many hours in the day and mental time away from your relationship with God. For example, screen time, TV time or an obsessive hobby.

You might schedule specific time in your calendar for devotional time, study with others or for listening to praise music.

Commemorate a change of heart by asking close friends or family to pray for you or with you.

Identify what the “water of life” is for you and give it up (2 Samuel 14:14, “water spilled out on the ground that cannot be gathered up again.”) What do you think you cannot do without? Sacrifice it and let that moment of saying, “No”, direct your heart to God more often.

Fast from food and use the time you might have spent buying, storing, preparing and eating to focus on God and whatever change you hear Him asking you to implement.

Confess any unconfessed sin and receive His forgiveness.

My only God, help me identify whatever spreads confusion in my life and gets in the way of an intimate and fruitful relationship with You. I trust that You will help me defeat it. I want to remove that from my life and replace it with more time spent focusing on You. Amen.