Fasting unto the Lord goes beyond rote, superficial sacrifice of food. Fasting unto the Lord, when done with the proper heart and the proper spirit, cleaves you to the Lord; everything on earth takes a back seat to worshiping and communing with your Heavenly Father. It is about "holding fast" to Him regardless of your circumstances (reference Deuteronomy 10:20, 11:22, 13:4, 30:20; Joshua 22:5, 23:8; 2 Kings 18:6; Psalm 119:31, 139:10; 1 Peter 5:12).

In Jeremiah 14:12, the Lord proclaims, "Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry." His refusal to listen to His people was based on their continued wickedness; their superficial sacrifice meant nothing because they persisted, unrepentant, in sinful behavior. Jesus, too, warned about fasting as an empty, perfunctory ritual. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about hypocrisy and hardened hearts in Matthew 15:8-11, 18-20: "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 'These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, 'Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean', but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'. ... But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'. ..."

In the account of Jesus' desert temptation, both Matthew and Luke record that, at the end of His 40-day fast, "He was hungry". Jesus, fully man and fully God, experienced every emotion and sensation as His children do: hunger, weakness, tiredness. The significant difference, of course, is that even in His weakened state, Jesus perfectly avoided temptation and sin. He did so by completely relying on the Word of God. Jesus knows that you will feel weak, hungry, sick, and even afraid at times, but He will sustain you in ways you never thought possible. To receive that sustenance, you must persevere in trust and faithfulness.

"Jesus answered, 'It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " (Matthew 4:4)