What Is God Looking for When We Fast?

I'd like to begin the second sermon this afternoon by reading from letters from our President and Chairman. First of all, in the January 5th letter from the Chairman and the President, we need to come together—and this is in regard to the Ministerial Conference coming up in just over a week—we need to come together and strengthen one another to greater love and good works. There's a quote of Hebrews 10, 23 to 25 about assembling ourselves and exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Please announce our meeting plans to the brethren and ask that all of us, ministers and members alike, set aside a day of fasting between now and then to humble ourselves before God and to seek His will in our lives at this conference. So, brethren, we are asking all of us to do that. If you have not done it yet, and maybe many of us have not, then we ask you between now and this coming Monday, a week from this coming Monday, to set aside a day for fasting. Mr. Luecker wrote in his January 14th letter, through a right attitude in fasting, truly seeking God's will, we are promised that your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer, as Isaiah 58, 8, and 9. Let us together humbly claim these promises and go forward to do the work of God. As we think about this day of fasting and prayer, I'd like for us to ask ourselves a question. What is God looking for when we fast? I'd like for us to address that question this afternoon. What is God looking for when we fast?

You know, I think sometimes it helps us to understand what God is not looking for, in order to better understand the answer to a question like this. There's a wrong kind of fasting, and God is not going to respect this kind of fast. You know, it's possible to fast in vain. Yes, it's possible to go through hunger pangs. It's possible to suffer weakness and feeling puny, but in vain. Let's read a few verses in the Bible that describe this wrong kind of fasting. First turn to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. And we'll begin to read in verse 3.

Isaiah 58 and verse 3. Why have you fasted, they say? Or why have we fasted, they say? And you have not seen. Why have we afflicted our souls and you take no notice? Even the people themselves realized that their fasting was not being heard by God. You've not really taken any notice of our fasting. God answers, in fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate and just strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. That fasting is in vain.

And verse 5 goes on to further explain a vain approach toward fasting. Is it a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? To bow down his head like a bull rush? To spread out sackcloth and ashes? Just some kind of outward show? Is that going to do it? Not at all. Would you call this a fast and acceptable day to the Lord? So yes, it is possible to fast in vain. It's possible to fast and do no good at all.

You know, what's the real problem? We read about that in verses 1 and 2. Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. But look at verse 2. Yet they seek me daily, and they delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching God. But it's all just an outward form of worship. The problem is that it's not from the heart. It's not from an obedient and submissive heart to do the will of God. They had their own will. They had their own ego. And they fasted to get, to strike with the fist of wickedness, and to exploit their laborers, and for strife and debate. God doesn't accept that kind of fasting. Let's notice also in Zechariah 7. Zechariah chapter 7. People that fasted, but God did not honor their fasting because it was not the right kind of fasting.

In Zechariah chapter 7 and verse 3, about midway through this verse, should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years? The fifth month is when Solomon's temple was destroyed. So the Jews in captivity had a day of fasting in the fifth month when the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. And so the question is here, should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I've done so many years? Well, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, say to all the people of the land and to the priests, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth, and they also had the seventh month. I can't remember exactly what that was they fasted for in the seventh month. When you fasted and mourned the fifth and the seventh months during those 70 years, did you really fast for me? For me. You talk about a long time of fasting in vain. 70 years they had fasted, but was it really to God? Did you really fast for me? For me? When you eat and when you drink, do you eat and drink for yourself? Did you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets? When Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, the south and the low land were inhabited. So you know what God is looking for is an obedient heart, and they, the Israelites, the Jews, did not have that obedient heart, and that is why they went into captivity. So Zachariah is pointing that out. In verse 11, but they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of Host had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets, and thus great wrath came from the Lord of Hosts. In verse 14, I scattered them with a whirlwind among the nations.

So God did not hear the Jews in Babylonian captivity when they were fasting, because their heart was not right. So there's a wrong kind of fasting. We know that in the New Testament, Jesus got onto the Pharisees, and they would have disconfigured their faces to make it look like they were in pain. They were fasting. They did it to be recognized of men when they were fasting. They wanted people to know they were fasting. Jesus said, no, wash your hair, wash your face, and don't appear to men to be fasting. There's a wrong motive, then, that was in the hearts of the Pharisees.

There's a wrong kind of fasting that will not accomplish good.

But what is God looking for when we fast? That's the question this afternoon. What is God looking for when we fast? I want to give you five things to think about. Number one, God is looking for an obedient heart. Yes, as we've already read here in Zechariah, God wants us to have an obedient and submissive heart, not one that is hard like Flint, not one that shrugs its shoulders or refuses to heed or to listen to God's servants, to God's Word. In chapter 7 here in verse 7, again, Zechariah 7, in verse 7, should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets. When we fast, God wants an obedient heart. A heart that wants to obey Him more fully, even, than ever before. In verse 8, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, execute true justice. Show mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. In other words, obey God's laws. Have an obedient heart to the laws of God. God's laws would lead us to do all of these things. And in chapter 8, and in verse 16, these are the things you shall do. Here's what God wants, an obedience to his laws. Speak every man the truth to his neighbor. Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. Let none of you think evil in his heart against your neighbor. And do not love a false oath, for all these things are things that I hate, says the Lord. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the fast of the fourth month, they had four different fast days for different things, the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love, truth, and peace. So these days of fasting in the future were to become a thing of past. Maybe this is talking more about the millennium, even. Brethren, God, when we fast, and of course all the time, God is looking for an obedient heart, a heart that wants to obey his laws, a heart that wants to do his will, a heart that delights in keeping God's laws and commandments. Oh, how love I thy law! That's the kind of heart that God is looking for.

Second thing that God is looking for when we fast, he's looking for a repentant heart, a truly repentant heart. Jesus said, Blessed are those that mourn, they will be comforted. You know, we have a continual mourning that goes on because we know we fall short. We know that we need to grow. We need to continually be improving. We know we do sin, and we need forgiveness. You know, God wants us to continually have that kind of repentant heart. The man after God's own heart is an excellent demonstration of the repentant heart that God wants us to have. Not that we need to do what he did in this one instance, but let's study this anyway in 2 Samuel chapter 12. We know the story about Bathsheba. 2 Samuel chapter 12.

When we read about how David went into Bathsheba in chapter 11, he saw her bathing, he lusted after her, and he went into her. And then he tried to, when he found out she was pregnant, palm the baby off on Uriah. Called Uriah in from the battlefield, but Uriah would not go into his wife. He said, Why should I go into my wife when my comrades are on the battlefield? He would not do it. So David sent him back with his own death note to the commander of the army, Joab. Put him up in the front, back away from him, and let him be put to death. So Uriah was killed.

And time went along. The baby was born.

You know, think about that. God let this drag on a while, didn't he? This went on for a while. David had the sexual relationship. Bathsheba became pregnant. David had to call Uriah in. Maybe she was three or four months along, and he called her in. To try to get him to have sexual relations with his wife. And then Uriah was killed. And then time went by, and the baby was born. So time went by in this story. The baby was born. Then we come to chapter 12. The Lord sent Nathan to David. David had not dawned upon David exactly what he had done somehow. I don't know exactly why. It looks like it would have dawned upon him how serious a thing he had done. The Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said to him, There were two men. He gives him kind of a parable. There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished, and it grew up together with them and with his children. It ate of his own food, in fact, and drank from his own cup, and lay in his bosom it was like a daughter to him. That's a pretty close animal in the family, like a family member. Well, a traveler came to the rich man who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come. He took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Well, by this time, David saw the picture. He was angry. Verse 5, David's anger was greatly aroused against the man. He said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore fourfold for the lamb because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

You know, Nathan the prophet looked right at the king of Israel, and he said, you are the man. You are the man.

Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and wives. That had been too little, I would have given you more. Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? You've killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You've taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. And these things did happen to David. I will take your wives, give them to your neighbor he shall be, or lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. In other words, brought up in daylight. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun. And David said to Nathan, and look, this is the attitude that God wants.

He really wants it all the time. But when we see that we have sinned, he especially wants this, but we realize we have shortcomings. We have to repent every day of thoughts and attitudes that are not pleasing to God.

David said these six beautiful words. Let's remember this as we come before God when we fast. And that is those six beautiful words, I have sinned against the Lord. David did not try to justify himself. He didn't say, well, God, but this woman was out bathing. She has to bear some of the blame. David didn't try to put the blame on anybody else, just himself. I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin, and you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die, then Nathan departed to his own house.

Well, the Lord struck the child, that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill. And David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted. And he went in and lay all night on the ground of the elders. They tried to get him to eat some food, but he would not. Verse 18, on the seventh day it came to pass, the child died. And they were wondering the servants of David how they were going to let him know.

David saw them whispering, verse 19, and he perceived that the child was dead. And David said to the servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. And he went to the house of the Lord and worshipped. And then he went to his own house, and when he had requested they set food before him and he ate.

And he told people, Well, when the child was alive, I fasted because I thought God might spare him. But now that he's dead, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

So, look at that attitude. You know, that's what God wants, this kind of attitude. When we do sin, and of course, like I mentioned, we sin every day, we fall short of God's glory in his way. We need to have this attitude of repentance. Look at Psalm 51. Psalm 51. It's a beautiful psalm of repentance. It's one that David wrote right after going into Bathsheba. Psalm 51. Notice the small print, even before you get to verse 1, the small print. To the chief musician, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. So, was this written during the days of fasting?

Was it written maybe shortly after the days of fasting? We don't know. Have mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving-kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.

You may be found just when you speak and blameless, when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with tessop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

This is a beautiful attitude of repentance, isn't it? In verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence. David felt like, you know, God had every right to, but do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. In verse 12, restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your generous spirit.

And you can read the rest of it, but what a beautiful attitude of repentance this is.

You know, let's also read in regard to God is looking for a repentant heart. Let's turn to Luke 18. Luke 18 and verse 9.

And this chapter also shows, again, a type of fast that is wrong, a type of fast that does no good, it is in vain.

Luke chapter 18 and verse 9. Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Those who were self-righteous and looked down upon others. Jesus gave this parable. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men. Oh, how deceived he was! Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. This man felt very good about himself. He fasted, and that even made him feel better about himself. Very self-righteous. But that kind of fast God does not honor. It is in vain.

And when we fast to make ourselves feel better and show how good we are, that is a vain kind of fasting. Verse 13, the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And that's a very short prayer, but God had deep respect for the publican, the tax collector. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So God is looking for a humble and repentant heart when we fast. Another number three, God is looking for a childlike heart, a heart that is looking to God with a childlike trust and dependence. Let's read Ezra chapter 8.

Ezra chapter 8 and verse 21. Ezra chapter 8 and verse 21. And here we see a childlike trust and dependence upon God on the part of Ezra. He's about to lead a group of people from Babylon to Jerusalem. Ezra chapter 8 and verse 21. Then I proclaim to fast there at the river of Ahabah that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones in all our possessions. You know, I picture that as what we're doing now with the fast that we're asking everyone, and that is that we might humble ourselves and then to seek from God the right way for us as we proceed. So that's what we're doing. Ezra goes on to say, I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, the hand of our God is upon all of those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.

So we fasted verse 23, and entreated our God over or for this, and He answered our prayer. God did bring them safely to Jerusalem. So God is looking for a childlike attitude, a humble, trusting, and obedient and teachable attitude of a little child. Let's read Matthew chapter 18. So as we fast, and of course all the time we should strive to have a attitude of a little child. Matthew chapter 18 in verse 1, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child to Him, and said Him in the midst of them. This is how Jesus answered that question. Who's the greatest? Sometimes people always want to be thinking about who's going to be the greatest. Well, Jesus put it in a true, godly perspective. He called a little child. He said, Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven, but to become like little children. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child, and Jesus was holding one, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one little child like this, in my name, receives me. I was thinking this week, remembering back in childhood myself, that little children don't worry, do they? Mom and dad will feed them. Mom and dad will give them a bed to sleep in, a home in which to stay. Children don't worry. They're pretty carefree. They're happy. Doesn't God want us to be the same way? He wants us to be happy, trusting Him. He wants us to be humble and teachable like little children. So when we fast, let it be with a childlike heart. Trusting, obedient, humble. Number four, God is looking for a serving heart.

He wants us to look outside of our own little world. He wants us to serve and to help others. Let us notice in read Isaiah 58, this passage on fasting. Notice how it actually zeros in a lot on reaching out to others. It reaches out to serving and giving. True love is an outgoing concern for others, not just thinking of ourselves. In Isaiah 58 in verse 6, is this not the fast that I have chosen? Here's the kind of fast that we must have, the one that God is looking for. It's not this the fast I've chosen. To lose the bands of wickedness. That gets back to a repentant heart. To undo the heavy burdens. Obedience to God's laws to let the old press to go free, and that you break every yoke. But notice it gets out into serving and helping others. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh. You know, this type of fasting here is one that we begin to serve other people. Look for ways we can help others. What kind of fast is God looking for? Well, it's one that we begin to find ways to serve other people. It's an outgoing concern. It's the give way. Mr. Armstrong often put it very simply. There are two ways of life. The get way, or the give way. Many of us will remember him saying that. So, fasting should help us to get in touch with the give way, reaching out to others and their needs. Brother, one of the biggest ways, in fact, the biggest way that we can reach out to others is with the gospel of the kingdom of God. Preaching the message of God's kingdom. But that's the next point. Number five, God is looking for a heart that is in his work. God wants us to have our heart in his work. And let's turn to John chapter 4 and verse 34. John chapter 4 and verse 34.

Just like Jesus Christ, earlier Jesus had said when he was 12 years of age, you remember that he had to be busy about his father's business. We have children here. Any of you 12 years old? Nope, okay. But you can still be busy about your father's business like Jesus was he was 12 years of age. John chapter 4 and verse 34, years later, during his ministry, Jesus said, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. So you know God is looking for us, looking for a people that have their heart in the work of God. Mr. Herbert Armstrong often said, we're only as converted as our hearts are in the work of God. That means every day, please pray every day that God will bless his work, bless the magazine, the Good News. There will be people reading that magazine every day, booklets that we send out, people that tune into the internet and the wealth of information, maybe hear a sermon off of the internet. Today we get a lot of people contacting us and who are coming into touch or into contact through the internet. WGN every Sunday morning. Pray that God will bless us as we proclaim the Good News to the world.

So our meat, our food is to do the will of our Father and finish his work. That's the kind of heart that God is looking for. So when we fast, what is God looking for? He's looking for, let's sum it up, an obedient and submissive heart. He's looking for a humble and repentant heart. He's looking for a trusting, teachable, childlike heart. He's looking for an outgoing, giving and serving heart. And he's looking for a heart that is in the work of God. He's looking for a broken heart. He's looking for a contrite spirit. Let's conclude the sermon by turning over to Joel chapter 2. And this sums up very well what God wants, what he's looking for, when we fast, and all the time, in fact, this is what God is looking for. This is what he wants. Joel chapter 2 and verse 12. Joel chapter 2 and verse 12.

Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart. That's the kind of heart that we need to have all the time, certainly one that we want to have when we are fasting. Turn to God with all of our heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. Surrender heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm. Verse 15, blow the trumpet in Zion. And since that's what our Council of Elders is doing, our president, we're blowing the trumpet. Consecrate a fast. Call a sacred assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation. Brother, we're asking all of us to draw close to God, to humble ourselves, to repent of our sins. As any of us walked as closely with God as we should, can we not all draw closer to God? Yes, we can. You know, this chapter goes on to say that if we do, that God will take note. He will bless. Verse 18, then if we do fast in this way with all of our heart, then the Lord will be zealous for his land and pity his people. He will answer and say to his people, Behold, I will send you grain. Verse 21, Fear not, O Land. Be glad and rejoice.

And verse 26, You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. So God is going to be with us, and he is going to bless us if we fast in this manner. Yes, fast with an obedient and submissive heart. Fast with a humble and repentant heart. Fast with a trusting, teachable, childlike heart. With an outgoing and serving heart. And with our heart in the work of God. Verse 12 again says it so well, what is God looking for when we fast? That is, turn to God. Let's turn to God with all of our heart.

This is what God is looking for when we fast.