Why Should We Participate in Fasting?

Zechariah 7:1-14
 
In this passage of Scripture, God was asking the people why they had fasted. They were urged to be merciful and just people. Do our actions resemble the actions of the Jews from our reading?

In verses 1-7:
For the past 70 years, individuals had been holding a fast in August to recollect the annihilation of Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem was being rebuilt, they went to the Temple to inquire as to whether they needed to proceed with this yearly fast. God did not address their inquiry straightforwardly. Eventually, he let them know that their conduct was a higher priority than their strict activities. He wanted his people to have genuine honesty in business and empathy for the powerless.

The Israelites had lost their earnest craving for God. Zechariah let them know that they had been fasting without an appropriate demeanor of contrition or love. They abstained and grieved during their exile without any consideration for God or their transgressions that had caused the exile. When we do go to church, when we pray, or when we fellowship with other Christians, would we say that we are doing these because it was habitual or for what we receive in return? God says that a demeanor of love without a genuine craving for him will prompt ruin. (Isaiah 1:11-12)
 
In verses 8-10:
What good is fasting and then to live dishonestly? However, all that they did was put on a show. Basically, they were being hypocrites, professing one thing but living another. They refused to help those that were less fortunate. They were more worried about themselves. God is a just God, and he wants his people to demonstrate his justice in their daily lives. Here God lets Zechariah know what he expects from his people. The Israelites are, to be truthful and reasonable. They are not to accept kickbacks, and they are to be forgiving and kind. This sounds like a simple solution for justice, yet would we say we are reasonable in the entirety of our dealings, the little and the huge?

• Micah 6:8, He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
• Deuteronomy 24:14, Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
• Proverbs 22:22-23, Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

 
In verses 11-14:
Zechariah disclosed to individuals that their ancestors had welcomed God’s extraordinary rage on themselves by solidifying their hearts. Any wrongdoing appears to be more regular the second time it is perpetrated. Also, as we become solidified, every reiteration is more straightforward. Disregarding or declining God’s admonition solidifies us each time that we foul up. We are to peruse God’s Word and apply it to our lives. Submission and sensitivity to God’s Word can mellow our hearts and permit us to live as we ought to be living.

• Nehemiah 9:29, And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
• 2 Chronicles 36:16, But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
• Proverbs 1:24-28, Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
• Isaiah 1:15, And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

 
In Matthew, Jesus tells us that fasting should be done in secret, not openly to obtain praise from others. Fasting is a noble and is a challenging time, going without food and being in prayer. The time spent in a fast gives us prayer time, teaches self-discipline, reminds us of what we can live without, and aids us in giving God thanks for our gifts. Jesus was not condemning someone who fasts, but the hypocritic way in why the person would fast, just to gain praise from people. The pharisees only fasted to impress the people of how ‘holy’ they were. Unfortunately, many people still do this today, put on a show. Jesus wants us to incorporate spiritual disciplines for the right reasons, not for selfish praise.
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• Matthew 6:16-18, Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

 
Do you go to church, pray, and fellowship out of habit or what you can get out of it?