When is the last time you heard someone talk about fasting, and it wasn’t in the context of some diet regimen? Does your church only fast at the ordination of elders? Do you only fast for an ordination service?
Below, you will find 37 Bible passages chronicling all the times that people (both God’s people and heathens) fasted, and their fasting is portrayed as a humble act of worship.1 I am purposeful in saying these were “humble acts of worship,” because there are accounts in scripture (Isaiah 58; Matthew 6:16) where men fasted, but it was done out of mere ritual and/or hypocrisy and emptiness.
These examples of fasting from 1,500 years before Christ all the way to the days of the early church should demonstrate how fixated the discipline of fasting was in the lives of God’s people. The most respected men and women of faith led the way in setting an example of fasting: Joshua, Samuel, Esther, Daniel, David, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus, Paul. And they did this out of godly respect and worship. It’s like they understood Jesus before Jesus ever said, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:10). They knocked on the door of God in their distress, they sought God’s mercy. Sometimes they received (Acts 10:30-31), and sometimes they didn’t (2 Samuel 12:15-21), but they knocked God’s door down by rending their hearts in prayer and fasting.
Why is it that today, we rarely hear of fasting as an expected or recommended Christian discipline like we do Bible reading, prayer, and meditation? It is noteworthy that you will rarely ever hear a preacher list fasting as a recommended practice in the typical “How to Overcome Temptation” sermon. I just finished reading three separate books on the subject of overcoming pornography and sexual temptation for my upcoming 30 Day Newsletter on the “The Truth About Porn.” I don’t remember any one of the authors recommending fasting to their readers in their sections about “How to Overcome Porn.” If they did mention fasting, it was such an aside point that I missed it completely. Why is it that the Bridegroom (Jesus) is gone and we are feasting but never fasting (Matthew 9:14-15)? We like potlucks but not so much sackcloth and fasting.
Well, enough stalling. Here are the 32 positive examples of fasting in scripture that I referred to at the onset.
37 Bible Passages About Fasting
Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights when receiving the law on Sinai (Exodus 34:28).
Faithful Israelites fasted at the Baal Peor incident. This is when Balaam and King Balak sent Midianite, Baal prostitutes into the camp of Israel and God commanded the leaders of Israel to execute anyone who took part in the sin (Deuteronomy 4:4).
Israel fasted at the farewell address of Joshua (Joshua 23:8).
The children of Israel fasted after defeat during the civil war with Benjamin (Judges 20:26).
Israel fasted at the preaching of Samuel and their rededication to the Lord (1 Samuel 7:6).
The inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead fasted seven days at the memorial of Saul and Jonathan (1 Samuel 31:13).
David fasted at the death of Abner (2 Samuel 3:35).
David fasted during the dying of his son conceived in adultery (2 Samuel 12:16).
Elijah fasted 40 days while fleeing from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:7-8).
King Ahab fasted at the rebuke of Elijah (1 Kings 21:27).
King Jehoshaphat and the city of Jerusalem fasted and prayed to God when surrounded by their enemies (2 Chronicles 20:3).
Ezra proclaimed a fast for himself and all the returnees to Jerusalem, because they were vulnerable to their enemies (Ezra 8:21-23).
Ezra fasted and cried to God when he learned that the children of Israel had intermarried with heathens from the nations they had lived in (Ezra 9:5).
Esther fasted and asked all her people to fast for 3 days as she prepared to approach King Ahasuerus’s throne room regarding the plot by the wicked Haman (Esther 4:16).
Nehemiah fasted and prayed when he learned of the shambled state of the city of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:4).
Nehemiah held a fast for the sins of the children of Israel that had returned to the city of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 9:1).
David, as an act of humility and kindness, fasted and prayed for his enemies (Psalm 35:11-14).
David fasted and prayed to God in his distress for Zion (Psalm 69:10).
David, ,in his distress, fasted until his knees were weak and he had lost considerable weight (Psalm 109:24).
Israel had a customary day of fasting (Jeremiah 36:6).
Baruch the scribe, by the command of Jeremiah, proclaimed a fast for all the people in Jerusalem and read to them the words of Jeremiah which he received from the Lord, words of judgment against the city of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 36:9-10).
King Darius fasted after Daniel was thrown in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:18).
Daniel fasted and prayed on behalf of the sins of the nation of Israel in their Babylonian captivity (Daniel 9:3-5).
Daniel fasted for an answer to prayer (Daniel 10:1-3).
Joel commanded a fast in association with crying out to God for mercy from the destruction God had sent (Joel 1:14).
God commanded Israel, through Joel, to fast as a sign of their repentance (Joel 2:12).
The whole city of Nineveh, including the animals, fasted at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:5-9).
Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights during His tempting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2).
Jesus expected His disciples to fast as a regular discipline after His departure (Matthew 6:16; 9:15).
Jesus told His disciples that they could not cast out very powerful demons except with prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21).
Paul fasted for 3 days while he was without sight from witnessing the Lord on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:9).
Cornelius fasted and prayed for 4 days until God answered him by an angel (Acts 10:30-31).
The church at Antioch fasted at the ordaining of Paul and Barnabas for missionary work (Acts 13:2-3).
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church with prayer and fasting (Acts 14:23).
Paul fasted during his sea voyage as a prisoner that would result in shipwreck on the island of Malta (Acts 27:21).
Spouses are admonished by Paul to fast from sex for short periods of time, and the express purpose of this withholding of sex was to be for the purpose of giving themselves to fasting and prayer (1 Corinthians 7:5).
Paul fasted often (2 Corinthians 11:27).
Conclusion
I hope these verses and my little bit of exhortation cause you to give a fresh look at this Christian discipline. More than that, I hope it will be a conversation piece between you and your brothers and sisters in Christ tomorrow. More than that even, I hope that the next time you find yourself in distress or sin that you will fast and pray. I speak to myself in all of this. Let’s fast about not talking about and practicing fasting!
1 This may not be an exhaustive list. I only looked at verses where the English words fast, fasted, or fasting occurred in the NKJV. There are examples of fasting in scripture where none of these words are actually used (see Acts 27:21). Therefore, more work needs to be done, including an index of all Hebrew and Greek words associated with fasting if we are going to be completely comprehensive about making a list.
