Fruitful Fasting

Tonight ends my 3-day fast. It has been an experience. At first, I was consumed with thoughts of food. Then my body began to react to the lack of nourishment. Today, my muscles are jumping, my brain is foggy, and I’m physically weak. BUT, in all that my spirit is strong and God has been working and moving in quiet, yet profound ways over the last several days. Through prayer and a purposeful time of truly listening to God, tuning out the voices around me, I can tell God is teaching me exactly what is needful for my soul.

 

Continuing with my “word of the year”, REDEEM, I’m led to the book of Hosea. An unlikely book towards the end of the Old Testament. It holds such hope for people who had turned their backs on God. Hosea reminds them of their sins of apostasy, rejecting God and His law, self-satisfied…and it mirrors my own wayward and sinful heart.

 

In these reminders, Hosea also brings to mind the Lord’s grace and love, blessing them with attentive and patient care and abundant provision. The Lord was their only hope. He was redeeming His people in His longsuffering compassionate way, restoring them and rebuilding their lives.

 

Sitting in this time of fasting, I’m encouraged, chastised, and humbled. God is redeeming me, causing repentance, offering forgiveness, sifting out those false idols, and prideful self-sufficiency so that I must lean into Him only as my Redeemer.

 

Is God your Redeemer? What hope has He given you? Let the Lord redeem your life of sin to exchange it for a life of beauty and righteousness. God loves us so extraordinarily that He gave His only Son as the final and perfect sacrifice for my sin and yours. He Redeemed us. How I love to proclaim this truth!

 

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt, I called My son…I led them with human cords, with ropes of love, I bent down to give them food…” Hosea 11:1,4