Yes, we all have abused our digestive systems in the past few months. So on January 1st, I started 21 days of fasting – the Daniel fast – to be precise.
In the Old Testament’s book of Daniel, the King of Babylon took 4 young Jewish men into captive, including Daniel, to serve the King. Instead of indulging himself with the King’s rations of meats, wines, and other delicacies, Daniel asked the chief of the eunuchs to just give him and his three friends only vegetables and water. The chief of the eunuchs was fearful at first because he did not want the King to think that he was not feeding the young men. But it turned out that after being served only vegetables and water for 10 days, Daniel and his friends were looking much better, healthier, and stronger than the other servants who were eating the King’s rations. And those 4 young Jewish men eventually became the favorites of the King because they were the wisest, most insightful, and always astounded the King with the powerful miracles they performed to prove their God’s power.
At any rate, our pastor recommended that the congregation do a 21 day fast at the beginning of every year. So I resolved to do the Daniel fast.
People who have done any form of fasting – be it one day or 40 days (that’s how long Jesus fasted, by the way) – claim to have experienced heightened spiritual awareness and much desired breakthroughs in their lives.
So I am denying myself all animal products and sweets, eating only vegetables, fruits, and grains. As a result, of course, my sense of smell is heightened. When I smell rich food, I crave for it. When I smell cookies being baked, I crave for it. But I have to tell my stomach that it is not my master. I also incorporate a day fast and half day fast here and there.
And since I am normally thinking about food all the time, even before the fast – what to eat, what to buy, what to cook, how to prepare, and what’s new to try – denying those thoughts strangely frees up my mind. I am sure my digestive organs are also resting, too, since they are not constantly breaking down all kinds of food three or more times a day. Yes, I am hungry. But all other energies otherwise spent on food, of food, for food, or digesting food are now directed toward my spiritual goal. I feel strangely peaceful about the problems I am currently facing in life. I remember my girlfriend once told me that when she was a victim of a gang rape decades ago, right after the incident, she went into fasting for 3 days. She did not know why, but she was compelled to do it. Her spirit just led her to fast for 3 days to detox her body. She said she never fell into a depression: she never lost her mind out of rage or became suicidal. She said she felt such love and peace during her fast.
I believe that when we fast, which is a form of denying yourself the “I want”, “I think”, and “I feel”, we are allowing something greater than the little “me” to take over our lives and let the greater power and the greater will to operate in our lives stronger. I imagine it to be like this. If a little child insists on playing with a toy that’s already in his hand, a loving father cannot give him a greater gift, nor would the child be able to fully receive the new gift. The child first has to drop the old toy he is playing with, and with his empty hands he can then receive the new gift from the father. He might cry a little when he is parting with the old toy. But this is because the child has no idea what a loving father has in store for the child.
With that loving thought in mind, this is day 15 of denying myself from the joy of food.
