ON FEASTING AND FASTING

KEY VERSE: My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. (Psalm 109:24)

  People think of “fasting” as doing without food; it is not. It is disrupting routine behavior. Because eating is routine, not eating is thought of as “fasting.”
“Feasting” is anything which “gives unusual or abundant enjoyment” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). For most people great meals provide beyond the routine, abundant enjoyment. Everyone must eat. For good health, it must be done on a routine basis. Feasting, as does fasting, disrupts the routine of people. Ironically, the difference in spelling between those two words is the small letter “e” which also is the first letter of “eating.”
  Prosperous people become accustomed to the more pleasant things in life. As such, they overeat for the sheer joy of it. Overeating, beyond what it takes for routine nourishment, is referred to as “gluttony.” That is overindulgence of pleasant things. Epicureanism is living for pleasure; it has all importance. Paul rebuked the Epicureans for their unknown god. Their god was their taste buds. They lived for the sheer pleasure of it. In reference to food and drink, their god condenses down to their taste buds.
  When people say, “I need some food; I’m starving to death,” that is deception. Better said is “My taste buds are not getting attention; they need appeased.” That is Epicureanism. I know who their god is and he is them!
  Epicureanism is not only the pleasure of food, but any type of pleasure. Some live for good wines, fine vodka, decorating the skin, royal apparel, elaborate beauty products, fine jewelry, esteem, and such. “Fasting” would also include giving up those things. Of course, the sacrifice without a cause is futile; there must be an honorable reason to fast for it to be effective.
Feasting is easy. The first sin was a feast. Although God warned them, Adam and Eve forewent “good” food from the Garden of Eden for some type of Epicurean food: “… the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat… (Gen 3:5).
  Note that her Epicurean god (The Serpent) provided not only food, but an abundance of beauty and wisdom. Just as the food in the Garden, beauty there was plentiful and perfect. God called it “very good” (Gen 1:31). Likewise, in the Garden, the two already had the knowledge of good but lacked any knowledge of evil.
 “The Wisdom Tree” was Epicurean in that the two became “philosophers.” They immediately rationalized their bad behavior to God: Eve blamed the Serpent and Adam blamed Eve. The Wisdom Tree introduced deception into the world, and mankind always finds it difficult to discern deception. (I sometimes refer to the forbidden tree as “The Philosophy Tree” because is certainly lacked true wisdom!)
  Satan, embodied within the Serpent, essentially said: “FEAST!” With their herbal diet already enough, when standing under the Philosophy Tree, God demanded they FAST! They had been accustomed to eating, but when standing under that particular tree, God wanted them to disrupt their eating patterns. They were warned to fast when near that tree: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17).
  Is that not a warning to fast? The Philosophy Tree represents the doctrine of the world which is The Doctrine of Sin. People must fast from over-pleasuring whether it be food, drink, or behaviors. In Genesis 2:17 the Hebrew words for “eat” are also consume, burn, and crave. Remember what Paul said, “It is better to marry than to burn” (1 Cor 7:9). “Burn” therein is “inflamed” or “lustful.” It seems that an over-abundance of pleasure, and the thoughts of it, is what “eating of the tree” is all about.
  Some theologians, as I do, believe that the problem with the Philosophy Tree was seeking pleasure rather than contentment. Should the two not have been content in the Garden? They should have been. However, they sought to feast by eating, focusing on beauty (lust), and having self-esteem by obtaining wisdom.
  John referred to those things much later as, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). Those attitudes are “Epicureanism” - a kind word for the lust for pleasure! Pleasuring oneself becomes the mode of worship, and the flesh becomes the Epicurean’s idol. They know not their “god” but we all know him; their gods are themselves!
  David (Psalm 109:24) was spot-on; he referred to his “fatness.” Figuratively, that is “richness” and implies pleasure. David forewent pleasure by fasting. Pleasuring is an easy thing to do. As we learned from Adam and Eve, it was enjoyable to actually partake of the Philosophy Tree, but afterwards it was hard work to fast from it!
  God helped them out when he put them outside the Garden away from the Tree. Henceforth, existence was by “the sweat of their faces” not just by a loving God (Gen 3:19). Thereafter, fasting from pleasure became toilsome. It is hard work to disrupt the natural inclination (from the forbidden tree) by fasting from pleasure. (Original pleasuring is called “original sin”).
 Christians are called to fast (disrupt) the routine of pleasuring. David understood that he had once feasted, on Bathsheba for one, but now he must fast from pleasure. David got serious about God’s Will for him. His own will, once rebellious, harmonized with God’s Will after repentance and a change in his “fattening.”
  “Gluttony” is sinful because it is overindulgence. We all have seen tattooed people over-indulge with decorating their flesh. That is sinful. How many tattoos are overly indulging? God knows… I have no idea, but perhaps one is too many (Lev 19:28). That disruption from the normative is self-indulgence, and perhaps sinful because artistic work on the flesh adorns our idols. Flesh covered by tattoos is feasting by providing self-pleasure to the skin.
  Don’t be offended, people… your tattoos won’t damn you, but overindulgence in anything may indeed make you die. Any behavior which over-indulges yourself is a fast from God. Others indulge in alcohol. How much is acceptable? Perhaps one drink for your health, as Paul prescribed (1 Tim 5:3).
  People are warned not to over-indulge in wine (Ephes 5:18). It appeases the flesh, and those who drink in excess are not filled with the spirit (ibid). Excessive wine may physically and spiritually kill you as God forewarned because the focus is on the “self.” If one is serious about their relationship with God, fasting from the pleasure of wine is the first step. God desires that Christians be sanctified as were the Nazarites, and they were not to drink wine or even chance drinking of it!
Wine can be made from figs and that was surely routine in biblical times. Ironically, the forbidden tree was likely a fig tree as the two sinners immediately covered their shame with a fig-leave apron. Just as the Nazarite is not even to eat the fruit that may ferment, sanctified Christians would abstain from wine to avoid excess.
  Then there is the gluttony of overeating. Just like the person with the tattoos, most who over-indulge in food have a tell-tale heart; it is their flesh. Not all, but many obese people are gluttons. (Of course, for some it may be genetics, hormonal, or health related, but for most surely it is over-eating for the pleasure of the taste of good food). Even some skinny people with great metabolism over-indulge at times. We all should fast so as to disrupt the routine behaviors!
  Eating is bi-modal. It nourishes to support life, but too much destroys and leads to physical death! Often missed is that he over-importance of food can lead to spiritual death. God warns about the glutton as disgusting to him, and that includes any over-indulgence (Deut 21:19_21). We find out from Paul later on that it is not what goes in the mouth but the intent of the heart. God’s Will is that we not be gluttons, and when our own will supersedes God’s Will, that is sinful! “Sin” seems to consist of putting your desire “to be your own master” over God’s “I Am” the Master!
Regarding the key verse, David recognized his “fatness” – his desire for excessive pleasure, and came to realize that he needed to “fast” from it, and apparently did so!
  Stoicism results from fasting for wrong reasons. Right now, I am fasting to lose weight. That is self -indulgence because it elevates me. If I fast to please God, then that is righteous. If I fast for other reasons, like when praying for others, that is spiritually noble.
  Some people have been overpowered by demons. I believe drug-usage allows demons to enter in. Jesus prescribed prayer and fasting to defeat our demons (Mat 17:21). We must also pray and fast for our own spiritual welfare. If not, then we just may die!
  People often give up from fasting from alcohol, drugs, food, or pleasure of any kind because they get deceived just as Adam and Eve were. When we give up, we give in to Satan. His desire is that His children be as designed, and that is “very good” (Gen 1:31). To be as God intended, as we have found, is hard work! God gave us will-power for self-control to demonstrate our willingness to please Him! Those who fail the hard work of fasting for the Lord displease the Lord.
  Rebirth is about change; the old person who does his own will should have been replaced by a new person who does God’s Will. The evidence of rebirth is which master we serve; do we serve God or ourselves?