Humility of Hunger
By the year 2030 30% of the inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa will have the highest rate of undernourishment in the world. In the documentary, The Most Dangerous Ways To School, Massai children, ages 4-11, are recorded as having walked from 10-20 kilometers (6-12 miles), one way – each day, in order to attend school. Many walk these distances with no food in their bellies, facing the constant threat of attacks from Elephants, Leopards, Lions, and alligators which inhabit the only source of drinking water for miles.
Jesus hungered following His forty days without food. When tempted to make bread from stones, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Cross referencing this passage of Scripture you receive greater insight into the purpose of fasting: 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Fasting reminds us to humble ourselves along with the worlds population that goes to bed hungry many a night. Fasting reminds us what we really should be living for – the Words that proceed out of the Mouth of God; Heaven’s Manna. Fasting reminds us what’s really in our hearts.
Yesterday I asked, How can we go outside the camp to meet Jesus? We meet Jesus outside the camp when we humble ourselves through prayer, and fasting, going without food in order that we might position ourselves to live only for the words that proceed from the mouth of God.
