Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

Soaked in God's Word, Sprouting Seeds of Faith

Soul Food: Feasting and Fasting

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Fasting.

I have a love-hate relationship with it. Mostly hate, because, well, I live in the land of awesome food. South Louisiana: where fine food is revered, and there is no lack of good and tasty fare. Breakfast consists of donuts, beignets, french toast (Pain perdu), waffles with maple syrup or (heavens!) waffle bananas foster. If that carb overload isn’t enough, don’t forget the biscuits and gravy.

Lunch can be anything from fried shrimp poboy to muffuletta to good ole southern friend chicken. And dinner? Oh, such a feast! Slow barbecued ribs, drunken chicken, or seafood casserole with sides of anything white: rice, potato, etc. A beautiful caesar salad is the green veggie of choice.

But I digress. Or maybe it’s a sugar coma. Or carb overload. Where was I? Oh yeah, fasting. Sometimes it’s a necessary evil.

Many times, food gets a hold of me and takes over. It’s all I think about (in case you couldn’t tell). What’s for lunch, what’s for dinner. What restaurants will there be on our road trip? Perusing the aisles at Sam’s, there are various taste testing samples of choice bits of, well, anything!

 

Breaking this food idol is hard. Food is everywhere. We can’t do without it. Or can we?

OUR SUSTENANCE

“Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.” Exodus 34:28 CSB

Moses was with God for forty days and nights. During that whole time, he didn’t eat or drink.  Nada. Nothing.

The Lord God was his sustenance.

Sustenance, according to Merriam Webster, is food or provision, or something that gives support, endurance or strength.

When we fast⁠1 (not if), God will provide all we need. Oftentimes, we see fasting as a famine. No food! Oh, nooooo! Rather than look at this spiritual discipline as a scarcity of food, we need to see it as a time of great abundance.

Fasting is not famine, it is feasting on Christ

The abundance comes when we feast on Jesus and His goodness. Fasting takes our focus off food and puts it precisely where it needs to be: on Jesus. We remember all He has done in and for us. And we worship Jesus as Lord.

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2 ESV

FEEDING OUR SOULS

Fasting is not starving our body, it is feeding our soul. Fasting provides extra time with the Lord. Skipping lunch? Spend time with Jesus, in prayer or in the Word.

Often during a fast, we spend “meal time” doing something – anything – to keep our minds off food. Maybe watch TV or play a game on our phone. Whatever keeps us occupied and not thinking that we are deprived of food. But we are starving and depriving ourselves in a different way: Lack of Jesus. Let’s learn NOT to replace food with other things. When we fast, replace food with Jesus. He will fill our souls!

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8 NASB

Recently, I had a “forced fast” due to some medical testing. When I reached the end of myself, and thought I could go no further without food, I turned to Jesus and His Word. He sustained me, supported me, and gave me endurance and strength. I have a different mindset now about fasting.

How about you? Will you embrace fasting to feed your soul? Will you taste and see that the Lord is good?

Grace be with you,

Soul Weary? Plan a Sabbath Rest

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Fatigue. I felt it in my heart. But why?

Perhaps it’s the news at night. None of it is good. There are wars and rumors of wars—the political stories weary me. And the reporting itself is, well, less than. I’m tired of trying to decipher the nonsense the anchors and reporters spout.

“There was much surf fearing…er sorry, suffering.”

Yeah, I’m pretty sure those suffering people are scared to death of surfing!!

Inept reporting. Biased reporting. Yes, I miss Walter Cronkite. I miss real investigative reporting. I know, I know. Those are tell-tale signs of my age. Oh well.

And then there’s social media. Doggone it, Facebook just isn’t fun anymore. I like to share things I find amusing or interesting. But others don’t particularly like the things I like, and they certainly let me know.

There is fatigue in my soul from fighting (mentally) with the world. I need rest.  That’s when I saw it. Meandering through Exodus, in between the drudgery of slavery and deliverance of the promised land is the delight of the sabbath.

He said to them, “This is what the LORD commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ” Exodus 16:23

Sabbath: what is it?

A Sabbath rest sounds so lovely about now, doesn’t it? But what is it? In the Hebrew, it literally means REST (H7677šabbāṯôn). It’s a time to rest, generally a day of rest.

Sabbath is also a command: It’s #4, actually.⁠1  Why do you suppose God had to command His people to rest? Think about it: for over 400 years the Israelites were slaves to their Egyptian taskmasters, making bricks of straw. Day in and day out they labored rigorously. Scripture tells us their lives were made bitter with hard labor.⁠2

When God took them into the wilderness, He had to teach them how to be free in Him. He had to get rid of their slave mentality so they could become the holy people they were meant to be. And He had to teach them to rest. They needed rest. But first, they needed to learn how to rest!

Let’s be honest and ask ourselves: Do we need to be taught how to rest?

Sabbath as a gift

The Sabbath is also a gift⁠3 from God. What do you do with a gift? Unwrap it! You delight in it. Let’s unwrap this gift:

“Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27 NASB

Jesus said it! Sabbath rest was instituted BY God FOR mankind’s benefit and refreshment. It was not meant to be a burden to keep a long list of regulations.

Why do we need rest?

Plain and simple: we slave hard all day in our writing, in our ministries, in our homes. We work mentally, physically and emotionally. We need rest.

What does rest look like for us today? It depends. What will delight and replenish you?

Sometimes for me, it means going outside and digging in my flower beds, even though it’s 150 million degrees and 1,000% humidity! And (for me) it definitely means low to no technology.

How can Sabbath rest help provide delight?

  • It honors our bodies’ need for rest
  • Provides spiritual replenishment
  • We stop work in order to rest. When we rest, God provides (Manna).

How do we get this gift?

So, how do we get this gift? When we come to Jesus, He gives it to us.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] “ Matthew 11:28 AMP

Jesus will give us rest, we need only to come to Him. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider. Jesus will provide whatever we need when we trust Him enough to stop and rest.

Are you soul weary? Have you considered planning a day of Sabbath rest for your spiritual health?

Grace be with you,

Ellen

Do you know Jesus?

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1 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Ex 20:8 (NASB)

2 Ex 1:11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor.;

Ex 1:13 The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously.;

Ex 1:14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor.

3 They must realize that the Sabbath is the LORD’s gift to you. That is why he gives you a two-day supply on the sixth day, so there will be enough for two days…Ex 16:29 NLT

 

 

First Published July 2022