I remember when I used to live in St. Paul and the city would periodically turn off the water on our block for maintenance. It was during these times that I realized how often I needed water to live. I couldn’t shower, flush the toilet, or even fill a glass of water to drink. It may seem obvious how frequently we use water in our daily lives, but it wasn’t until it was gone, that I realized that I took water for granted.
Friendship Church announced a day of fasting for their ‘Rhythms’ sermon series a few weeks ago. Fasting was explained as an effective way to set aside distractions, to focus more on God. My first thought was, “I think I would be too distracted by the starvation, that I wouldn’t be able to focus on God.” I wasn’t totally sold on the idea until I heard there would be a guided list of Bible passages to read during the fasting. I did not have a routine of reading the Bible, so I thought the fasting would give me a good excuse to open my Bible.
The fast was to go from Friday night after dinner to Saturday night’s dinner time. I told my fiancé that I was thinking about doing a fast and she encouraged me to go ahead and do it. She also wanted to get more into the Bible with me. There were so many passages that Pastor Matt Clausen assigned, that it looked like we signed up for a night course in theology!
Friday night we read Ephesians chapter one through two, which was Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus. In those chapters he praises God for all the blessings that God has given us. By sacrificing His Son, we are made redeemed through His blood.
“In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding”
-Ephesians 1:5-8 (NIV)
These passages led my fiancé and I to discuss the many blessings God has given us. When God gives blessings to us, we can’t help but feel His love and want to convey that love to others in our lives.
Saturday morning started out like any other Saturday for me. The only weird thing is that I didn’t have any breakfast. I committed myself to only consume liquids and not solid food. So of course, I drank water, I had a cup of coffee, and I also decided to have a couple of protein shakes. You may think that’s cheating, but believe me, the taste of these shakes was awful! Punishment fits the crime, I guess.
I had a lot of video editing to do on Saturday, so I didn’t have time to delve too deep into my Bible. I did however get a chance to read the book of Malachi and it was pretty much the opposite of what I read the previous night. The book of Malachi is about how the people of Israel took God for granted and weren’t offering their best sacrifices for The Lord. The priests were accepting these sub-par sacrifices and The Lord wasn’t having it with these priests. He was so enraged with the priests that he wanted to rub literal excrement on their faces.
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me. 3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.”
-Malachi 2:1-3 (NIV)
When reading through this book, it’s easy for us to look down on the Israelites and face palm ourselves at what disappointments God’s chosen people have become. Every time God proves His love and keeps His promises, the Israelites have forgotten and disobeyed him anyway. But how often have we sinned in our own lives and God still forgave us? How many times have we sinned the same sins and God has still forgiven us? If God decided to not keep his promise to Israel and forsake them because of what they did in Malachi, what chance do we have?
I wondered out loud to my fiancé if fasting was worth doing. I wasn’t totally focused on reading the Bible, I was working on other things. However, I realized that feeling of hunger was a reminder of the many blessings that God has given. Not only has God blessed me with food, clothing, shelter, my fiancé; He has given His ultimate blessing, His Son.
It’s funny, I thought hunger would distract me from learning more about God and being closer to Him. The opposite happened when I went through with it. It was the hunger that made me more focused on Him, it was the hunger that reminded me how much I needed Him. Just like the water that was shut off in my St. Paul residence, it’s easy to take God for granted.
Joel Klein
Joel Klein is the Video Specialist for Friendship Church. You may have seen him filming at each campus as he creates all the video content for Friendship. Joel previously worked in television and at other media companies. Joel graduated from Concordia-St. Paul University with a Bachelor of Art in Communications.