Eat this Scroll

I don't fast as often as I should, but when I do I sense God's presence, or the need for God's presence that much more. It's frustrating feeling hungry and not having something to satisfy it, but I think that's the point. When we fast we experience what Jesus wanted us to feel when he says in Mark 2 that his disciples would fast after he was gone. Jesus wanted us to sense a feeling of emptiness, rather a hunger for his presence - or being with him, when he's gone. Well, now that he's gone, and we await his return, how often do we fast? And what does that look like?

I've heard and read about all sorts of types of fasts, but each one I try fails to compare to the sense of pain I get in my stomach when I know that I need sustenance to satisfy what my body needs. Our bodies need food and water to survive. That's perhaps one of the few facts that is non-negotiable in the world. God created our bodies to "need" sustenance. The feeling that is associated with in our minds, or at least in my mind, is to "crave" food. Not only do I need food, I crave it! I long after it when my stomach is empty. My mind can rarely get off the topic until my stomach stops hurting. That's how much I need it. That's how much we need God. We rarely stop to practice the discipline of fasting, and so it's anything but ironic that we would rarely sense of how much we NEED food, and thus it's equivalent: GOD. This morning, as I fasted, I filled that time with God's word. Take Ezekiel for example.


And he (God) said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. (Ezekiel 3:1-3, emphasis added)


God tells Ezekiel to eat the scroll, he did, and it was sweet as honey. God tells us to fill ourselves with his word. We get sustenance from digesting Scripture. I don't mean simply reading for five minutes and moving on. There is a reason why passages such as Joshua 1:8 and Deuteronomy 6 say that we should meditate on it day and night.

I was reading this morning in Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Spangler and Tverberg about the practice of kavanah. Kavanah is a Hebrew word used within the Jewish culture to distinguish the art of directionally channeling our focus in whatever we do to experience the presence of God. It's us doing our part, but always relying on God's active presence. When we focus on kavanah things or events during our day that were once ordinary become exciting and meaningful! Any moment of any day can be a fearful moment in which God's presence explodes in a joyous presentation of his love, mercy and grace. More so this doesn't have to be self-focused. While God may choose to reveal himself to us as we're intimately seeking him, he may also reveal something to someone else, giving us the opportunity to love someone with the extravagant love of Christ! Fasting can be a catalyst to kavanah, sensing God's presence, taking us into the deep longing for God that we were created for. Our souls desperately need to experience the craving for our Creator as our stomachs crave food. We crave, knowingly or not, the inexpressible and inexplorable riches of God's love that only the Holy Spirit can show us! Oh how I long for that! How I long to be taken deeply into the heart of God's law and the spirit of his kingdom! If we only stopped more often to practice the art of fasting that we may find how much we truly need God.