Fasting: Day 3

I’m fasting today. It’s putting a new perspective on the phrase “to hunger for God.” Whenever my stomach growls, I wrench my thoughts away from the pantry and direct them toward prayer.

Matt Erbaugh recently posted a thoughtful piece called "You Don’t Eat Enough!" He compares our need for prayer to our need to eat. Matt points out that we’re hard put to get through the day on breakfast alone. He notes that spiritual sustenance also has to be a regular feature of the day, so our relationship with God doesn’t grow weak and malnourished.

Ironically, it’s the discipline of a physical fast that makes it clear to me how undisciplined I can be with my devotions. The munchies put a magnifying glass over my earthly appetites—and help me realize how much more I could attend to my hunger for heaven. My ever-alert belly acts as a reminder to nudge my heart in a different direction.

Here are a few verses of scripture to meditate on through out the day:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).

"…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).

"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and ho believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35).

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).