Your Asking Me To Do What?

My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt, with no fat. (Psalm 109:24 ESV)


If you have never read Psalm 109 before I would encourage you to do so this morning. I was reading it thinking that I would not want David, or any righteous man praying such things to the Lord about me.

On a different note; fasting for me is not a regular happening. I would guess that I fast 5 or so times a year. I was struck as I read this Psalm, by David's persistence in prayer and fasting. He had fasted to the point of being weak. I have fasted to the point of being very hungry, but not so as I could not walk. David continues fasting to the point of having a gaunt body without any fat.

Holman's Bible Dictionary defines fasting as "Refraining from eating food to know the mind of God, mourn, and/or careless sins." It goes on to say that the Bible describes three main forms of fasting.
1. The normal fast, involving total abstinence from food, but not from water.
2. Abstinence from both food and water for no more than three days.

3. Restriction of diet rather than complete abstinence.

Do you sometimes need the mind of God for a particular thing in your life? Do you need to mourn before God for one reason or another? Are you enslaved by any careless sins?

Maybe today should be the day you and I make a new commitment to persistence in prayer and fasting. Do you wonder how your life would change if you did?