Day 8 Devotional: Fasting to Know God

Day 8: Fasting to Know God

You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the animals of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. Daniel 4:32

As we enter week two of the devotional, we’re going to focus on the ultimate goal of fasting: strengthening our relationship with the Lord.

How well do you know God the Father, Jesus His Son, and the Holy Spirit?

As the week progresses, we are going to read about the incredible vision Daniel had in Chapter seven of the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man. We all need this revelation of the Lord in all His glory and understanding who He truly is. This revelation inspires us to true worship.

People are prone to define God based in a way that makes them feel comfortable, like viewing God as an unnamed “higher power” with limited, vague rules for living a “good life”. Or maybe he’s like a benevolent cosmic genie to pray to, who will grant our requests if we’re good.

But God cannot be molded into our image . . . that’s backwards. As it says in Jeremiah 18, He is the potter and we are the clay, it’s not the other way around.

Do you actively seek to know God more, or have you settled for focusing only on the parts you like and holding back from fully pursuing Him?

Isaiah 55:8 reminds us that his thoughts and ways are not the same as ours, which means that pursuing Him requires a new level of humility and openness and admitting that you don't know everything, you can't control everything, and you can't do it all yourself . . . but you can know the One who can!

One of the hardest things for my kids to grasp about God so far has been, “How can I know Him if I can’t see Him?”

Even as adults, most of us would admit this is a challenge. It's hard to maintain a spiritual perspective and relationship when the physical world around us is smack in front of our face and full of pressing to-do's.

King Nebuchadnezzar definitely lost his perspective. Chapter four recounts his dream (from Chapter two that Daniel had interpreted for him). Although he receives the dream interpretation from Daniel, he forgets it over the subsequent twelve months.

Nebuchadnezzar had conquests, successes, and wealth that led him to the conclusion that he was pretty amazing and self-sufficient (and may of us fall into this same trap).

The king proclaims, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30) As these words leave his mouth, he is driven away and lives like an animal for a period of time until he recognizes God as the Most High ruler.

Fasting helps keep your perspective sharp; it’s a practice that strips away the physical and compels us to maintain a spiritual lens on our lives cultivating the most important relationship we have, which is with God.

Your Journey

How is fasting causing you to see your physical day-to-day through a spiritual lens? Have you grown complacent in how you view God, or will you seek to know Him on a deeper level?

Song: Great are You Lord by All Sons and Daughters (YouTube)

Daniel 4:32

Isaiah 55:8-9

Jeremiah 18:1-6

You can utilize the Daniel Fast Journey book (available on Amazon) for more information about the Daniel Fast along with a 21-day meal plan and recipes.