Daily Lift: Worth The Struggle!
Deuteronomy 9:11
11 And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.
I don’t know many people that have fasted forty days and nights. Johnny did a thirty day fast in 2010, I have done several twenty-one day fasts, as well as less ones, but I am not sure I could make it for forty days and nights. I believe that when in the Presence of God, you don’t need the physical nourishment that you would normally require. Maybe if I knew what I was going to gain at the end of the fast, I would have enough stamina and commitment to finish it, but I don’t think Moses knew he would receive the Ten Commandments, the tablets of covenant at the end of the fast.
What if God asked you to spend forty days and nights with nothing but Him, sit in His Presence without food, water, or other human contact……..could you do it? Would you choose to do it? Will you go without knowing why you are doing it, or what you were going to gain in the end?
I am not certain that I could…….I would like to think I would be obedient and try……but what good is an attempt if you give yourself an out?
This is what I know: A day is like a thousand and a thousand like a day to the Lord. If He asks us to fast even for twenty-four hours, He is not in time or restricted by time…..He is in the past, present, and future all at the same time. That means that He has seen us start the fast, struggle through it, and then has seen us complete it from the same vantage point.
When Johnny began his thirty day fast, the first week went well. By the end of the seventh day, he had had enough, and after retiring to the bedroom to sleep at seven-thirty at night because of the food commercials every five minutes, he said to God, “I give up, I can’t do this, I quit.” God said back, “I didn’t give up on you and you are not going to give up on Me.” Johnny, shocked at what he had heard, pulled the covers over his head, curled up in the fetal position, and went to sleep.
For the next twenty-three days, not only did he successfully complete the fast, but he cooked for the family, we had guests for dinner, and he sat with us, making conversation, as if food didn’t matter to him. I know that the grace of God gave him the power to do what he knew in his own strength was impossible.
God already knows what will come as a result of our obedience and commitment to fast and stick with it. We have to trust, as Moses did, that God has a purpose for all things, and the reward at the end is worth the struggle.
