“Moses’ First Forty Day Fast” Dt. 9:9

“When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I did neither eat bread nor drink water.” Deut. 9:9

I have a friend named Tom who just tried to do this to cure himself of diabetes, he is a Christian and he was determined and devoted to Christ but not under a doctor’s supervision. Needless to say, he went about 20 days, lost about 30 pounds, ended up with a blood infection and was placed in the hospital dehydrated for a month and has been in rehab for two months. So, 20 days fasting with diabetes without a doctors care can cost you your life. If you have a medical condition and you want to try fasting speak to your doctor first!

Fasting – Is a forgotten practice of the church today. Orthodox Jewish people fast every Monday and Thursday, plus they have special days of fasting during the year, seven to be exact: ‘Ta’anit Bechorim’ fast of the first born, on the day before Passover on the 14th of Nisan, the first month; ‘Tzom Tammuz’ the fast on the 17th of Tammuz, the fourth month, this is the day Moses smashed the first set of tablets after fasting for forty days. It is also the same day the Babylonians smashed the walls of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. which led to the destruction of the Temple on the 9th of Av; The fast on ‘Tisha B’Av’ the ninth of Av, the fifth month, is a fast remembering the destruction of their Temple the first time on the eve of Tisha B’Av. It is customary to eat a hard boiled egg sprinkled with ashes on that day. ‘Tzom Gedaliah’ the fast before Rosh Hashanah, commemorating the death of Gedaliah, the governor of Jerusalem by the zealots, on the seventh month; ‘Yom Kippur’  the ‘Day of Atonement’ the most holy of days, the only fast for the purpose of (teshuvah) repentance; ‘Asarah B’Tevet’ the 10th of Tevet, the fast of the tenth month, recognizing the fall of Jerusalem, Kaddish is said for the deceased whose date and place of death is unknown; ‘Ta’anit Esther’ the fast of Esther, the day before Purim, on Adar 13. They also have the ‘Fast of Miriam’ on the 10th of Nisan; The ‘Fast of Aaron’ on the 1st of Av; The ‘Fast of Moses’ on the 7th of Adar; The ‘Fast of Joshua’ on the 26th of Nisan; and the ‘Fast of Samuel’ on the 28th of Iyyar, commemorating the dates of their deaths.

Very seldom if ever do you hear the church calling for ‘Fast Days.’ We have ‘Feast Days,’ ‘Festival Days,’ ‘Family Days,’ ‘Friend days,’ and ‘Fun Days’ but seldom if ever ‘Fast Days!’ Why is that? Fasting is a quiet, private practice in the church today, in fact it is so quiet and so private and so secretive you hardly ever hear of anyone doing it anymore. You have all heard of Jonathan Edwards and his sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God,” but did you know, he did not eat or drink anything for three days and nights, he just laid on the floor behind the pulpit fasting and praying, “Give me New England or let me die!” When he arose from his knees and stepped into the pulpit they said his face glowed as if he had been looking straight into the face of God and before he even spoke conviction fell on the entire audience. Where did his power come from? He had 20/200 vision and had to read his sermons 12″ from his face in a monotone voice and people were crying, holding onto the pillars and pews for fear of sliding into hell. One deacon ran up to the pulpit and begged Edwards to stop, he looked down at him and told him to control himself and went on.

Abraham Lincoln wrote an address to our nation during the ‘Civil War’ that was as important if not more important than the ‘Gettysburg Address’ and it seems few if any pay any attention to it today. It hardly ever hits the news media, he set aside Thursday April 30, 1863 as a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. He probably read Judges 20:26, where all Israel went to God and wept and fasted because of ‘Civil War’ with the tribe of Benjamin. Does anybody recognize April 30th today with fasting and prayer because this nation is in ‘Civil War’ again?

In the spring of 1877 in Minn. the farmers awaited the destruction of their crops by hordes of locusts. Suddenly, Gov. John Pillsbury proclaimed April 26th as a day of fasting and prayer, urging every man, woman and child to call on God for Divine intervention. The locusts never showed up, ‘No Not One!’ Fasting and Prayer’ are a forgotten part of the bride of Christ today, a principle for Christian living hidden from the children of God by the ‘Angel of light.’ A principle so powerful, so forceful, so dynamic, so earth shattering, and heaven shaking, it could change the course of history or the outcome of presidential elections. A principle so precious it could melt the coldest heart, build the biggest bridge, destroy the highest wall, defeat the greatest enemy, and revive the deadest church! A principle forgotten in the mass of doctrine, theology, eschatology, ecclesiology and debate today in our seminaries, churches and Bible colleges. Interesting, all through Bible college and graduate classes, I was never given a class on prayer and fasting or offered one. In fact one of my professors, Dr. R. Showers said, “Prayerology has never been written and it needs to be!”  Fasting is a principle that every child of God should practice for power, peace, protection and the very presence of Almighty God in their lives. A principle that has been forgotten and even forbidden by a few except maybe the, ‘Desert Fathers’ and Monks and Hermits or Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, and the early church followers of Christ and those disciples  of Christ of yesterday, today and tomorrow who want to know the power of His presence and the presence of His power like Spurgeon, Moody, Finney, Taylor, Chambers, Mueller, etc.

Moses did not learn prayer and fasting in Deut. 9:9 on this mountain getting the tablets for Israel. He already knew this principle for living, it was just being tested to its limit. Have you ever been tested to your limit by God?  Where He takes you out on the wire and then bends the wire a little bit or shakes it to see if you will trust Him or jump off into the abyss.  Moses is over 80 and God is still taking him to the wire, Oi Vey!  He does that to me more times then I care to mention and sometimes I make it and sometimes – never mind, this is about Moses!  While Moses was fasting and praying, his people were feasting and playing naked with a golden calf Aaron made for them, Ex. 32:24-25.  Don’t you just love Aaron’s excuse, “I cast the gold into the fire and out came this calf/bull.”  However, in v.4 he says he fashioned it or made it with an engraving tool, and said, “Here is your god, your elohim that brought you out of the land of Egypt.”  Just 40 days without their leader and they are worshipping idols, no wonder Moses broke the two tablets, no wonder he ground the calf up and threw the dust into the brook on Mt. Sinai and turned it blood red and made them drink it, v.20.  (What brook?  Find me a  dried up river bed on or near Mt. Sinai!)  Then after killing 3,000 on the 6th of Sivan he goes back up the Mt. to make atonement for them because their high priest is under condemnation.  He took some of that crimson blood red water with him.  (Read M.R. DeHaan’s book – Chemistry of the Blood, pp. 31ff.)  Till next time, I’ll see you, “…..Between The Lines…..”

“Moses’ First Forty Day Fast” Deut. 9:9  1-11-18