Deliberate Prayer, Impromptu Fasting
by Jared Johnson
As far as I know, here is a comprehensive list of everyone identified in Scripture who fasted with prayer. It’s chronological.
Sixteen references among millions of Hebrew people across roughly 1,500 years of history are a bit thin for as often as we think and talk about “prayer and fasting.” (If you use KJV/NKJV or a couple other niche translations, Cornelius in Acts 10 would be included on this list.)
While both Moses and Jesus fasted 40 days, Esther and Paul fasted 3 days. Plenty of the above references are ambiguous on timing. Daniel “didn’t taste any rich food” in his chapter 10 fast, so it was “partial,” while Moses and Paul, both intently awaiting God's replies, forewent both food and water in total fasts. Hannah desperately pled to God for a baby. Nehemiah wept and implored Him over Israel’s ravaging. John’s followers fasted probably for “ritual” reasons. Early church leaders sought Holy Spirit’s wisdom and direction about yet more leaders.
That’s a lot of possibility and variation across a small sample size. Besides “prayer” and “don't eat” (whether total or partial), there is no “center cut” for prayer and fasting, biblically-speaking.
Of those listed above, I was surprised to find Hannah’s name among them. In every translation I looked up, she’s never directly described as “fasting.” However, the fact she was so upset that she lost her appetite, then prayed desperately, is evidently what put her on this list.
While decision/intention is important in our spiritual lives and formation, Hannah’s story tells us that circumstance can be, depending on how we respond, just as pivotal.
While Joseph had one terrible circumstance after another assault him from Genesis 37 to 41, he ultimately came to understand, some 15 or so years later (Gen 45), that God had worked through all those circumstances to provide for he and his extended family through famine. Generations later, circumstances turned again and God worked through them as well to draw a man out not just from water but out of the mundane to lead God’s people in remarkable ways.
As circumstances come and go, when so many proverbial rugs are yanked from right under our feet, there’s nothing stopping us from redirecting that stomach-turning moment into a fast to pray to and implore our Good Father for His intervention. Hannah was so upset emotionally that she simply stopped eating. But she didn’t leave herself in that state; she turned her heart and mind to God and He answered her desperate prayer. That’s a great example worth following.
Prayer, no matter how short or long, is deliberate in some way. Fasting, though, can sometimes hit us completely impromptu, unexpected, and unintended.
Paul admonished us to “take every thought captive” (2 Cor. 10.5). There’s no reason we can’t also take every fleeting hunger pang captive and make it an obedient fast. That was a stretch, I know.
As I poked around for material for today, I found a Pew Research bulletin (2024) that said barely a quarter of US adult Christians fast – and only “occasionally!” It also reported 80% of Muslims fast. Only 1 out of every 6 white evangelical Protestants said they fast, while black Protestants reported double or better the rate of white Protestants.
Life comes at us hard every day. Our corporate mental health has been brutalized in recent years. We have ample opportunities to grab hold of a circumstance, skip a meal or 2, pray over it all, and then leave it with God.
