huh?

‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’
Jeremiah 33:3 MSG

During this fast, you have probably developed some new habits, good habits. Habits that have helped you develop a healthier spiritual life (and for many of us, dietary habits that would help us to live healthier in the long run).

The end of the fast doesn’t mean the end of these habits. Am I saying that you should fast all year? No, what I am saying is that if you have developed a new practice that is helping you to be more aware of the presence of God in your life, then by no means should you give it up. This fast has been a time of stretching, of growing and learning. It would make no sense to have grown only to shrink back, or to have learned only to forget.

In the verse above, God tells us to call to Him, that He will teach us unknown things. You have only just started your journey, God is ready to take you the rest of the way. Make yourself available to God and get ready for a year of expansion as you pursue God with a new found passion.

Grace.

Peace.

-m

Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:21-23 NLT

When you are in the midst of a fast, it is easy to be reminded of all the things that you wish you hadn’t committed to abstain from. Fasting has a way of reminding us that we are crucifying our flesh, putting our desires to death, in hopes that we will be made more like Jesus.

The trouble is, we have to consciously decide that we want to be like Jesus. We could easily slip into complaining and bemoaning our time of difficulty, but this is not what Jesus did when He went to the cross; He was silent, as a lamb lead to slaughter.

So, how do we gain a fresh perspective when we are SO CLOSE to being done with this fast? All that many of us can think about at this point is the finish line, and what we want to do when we cross it.

In Lamentations, Jeremiah pours out his guts as he is heartbroken over what has come to not only Jeremiah, but all of Israel. There is this very unusual transition though, in Lamentations 3:21. Jeremiah spends the first 20 verses of this chapter Lamenting, sorrowful over all that he has experienced and seen, the destruction of his nation, and his own hardships as a prophet that no one wants to hear. In the middle of all the Lamenting though, he stops, and he says, “Yet I still dare to hope.”

What a powerful sentiment! We are in the home stretch of this fast, don’t lose heart! Instead, DARE TO HOPE! Why can Jeremiah change his attitude so quickly? He can because he remembers that God’s faithful love never ends; that His mercies are new every morning! Find the beauty, the majesty, the wonder, the love of God today, because it is fresh! And if you find it, you can dare to hope!

Grace.

Peace.

-m

Note: Tomorrow we will talk about building a post-fast plan for your life.