Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 15 W 4 D 1.

Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad you could join us.

We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel. We enter into Chapter Ten. Here we meet with the popular Daniel's Fast. Ever heard of it? One of the few examples of an explicit description of what fasting is in the scriptures.

A lot of people have yet to learn what a fast is. We all grew up with the 6 to 6 fast, more popular during the Lenten season. And, guess what? The next Lenten season is here with us in two days' time. Lent sure was my first experience with fasting, even though my mother is a fasting champion.

I tried the 40 days of fasting but never was disciplined enough to do 6 to 6 for 40 days. And, maybe to my shame, as my wife might allude to, I still have not conquered that supposed demon, nor do I have any target or goal in that wise.

The Daniel Fast was not like our traditional 6 to 6 fast, which could be dry (exempt from food and water/drinks) or wet (only water ingest). The specifics of the Daniel fast are highlighted in verses 2-3. It reads,

"In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled."

Daniel ate, but not for pleasure. He ate for mere nourishment. All pleasure eating was suspended. He was on a strict diet of a sort. This can be referred to as a detox. It was body maintenance work, though that was not the main focus of the fast itself. 

The intent of all fast is godly sorrow (mounting), otherwise known as sobering of the soul, beating of the body, circumcision of the heart, or girding of the mind. Detoxing and dieting are the unintended, possibly welcomed, results of a fast, but never the objective.

So, Daniel's fast, as in all fast, involved a suspension of "pleasure." Not as though there is anything wrong with pleasure itself, but abstinence is a spiritual exercise. Exercises involve a suspension of pleasures, with the intent of building strength and toning in the specific area(s) of focus.

We see the same suspension of "pleasures" exemplified in Darius's fast. Daniel 6:18 reads, 

"Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him."  

Not as though there is anything wrong with music or sleep, but they did not go with the needed disposition of supplication for the time of fasting. It was a suspension for a time and season, not an abolishing.

Let's pray.

The Saint.