The Daniel Fast: What if my prayer isn’t answered? How are you doing on your fast? If you have already started your fasting, whether it is a complete fast, a partial fast, juice fast, Daniel Fast, no matter what you have chosen, you have probably already encountered a bump or two in the road. Do not despair! Just keep going, start over, whatever you have to do. God isn’t sitting in Heaven with a ruler in His hand ready to smack you every time you make a mistake. Just determine to stick with it and remember to pray; that is where your strength comes from.
Today, we are talking about what to do when you fast, you pray, you petition God but He doesn’t answer your prayer the way you had envisioned. (Catch up on missed posts here!)
In the 11th and 12th chapters of 2 Samuel, we read the shocking and heartbreaking story of David and Bathsheba. If you aren’t familiar with the story, you can read about it here. The shortened, condensed version is that David had an affair with another man’s wife, Bathsheba, and had her husband killed. He then took Bathsheba as his own wife and that is where we enter the story with Nathan, the prophet, confronting David about his sin:
“Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’’” 2 Samuel 12:7-10 ESV.
King David acknowledged his guilt and Nathan goes on to tell him his sin has been “put away” but the child born out of the sin will die.
What does David do next?
“And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.” 2 Samuel 12:16-17 ESV.
David was a man of war, a mighty man of valor but he was also repentant and always readily admitted his sin. He was humble and petitioned for the life of his son even though this child would be a continual reminder of his sin! He knew HE was the reason for the Lord’s displeasure and so he humbled himself with prayer and fasting in the hope that the Lord might change His mind. And, surely, he even felt it was his DUTY to petition on behalf of his son.
David fasted until the seventh day but the baby died.
“Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
The members of David’s household were confused and told him so. David replied that he was hoping the Lord would be gracious, that He would spare the child’s life, yet it was not to be. There was no need to fast once he was gone. Matthew Henry’s commentary says it so well here:
“Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped…” David worshiped the Lord because He knew that God had spoken, He had answered and He was sovereign. If God does not answer your prayer the way you think it should be answered, and you even accompany that prayer with fasting, it doesn’t mean your fasting was in vain! Remember, we talked about the fact that fasting changes that inner man, it changes YOU (and me!). David knew life was to go on; he had repented, he had prayed, he had fasted and God had answered. Yes, he had sinned but he had found forgiveness and restoration through his repentance and humility.
He fasted and prayed because there was still life and when that life was gone he knew to worship God.
“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” Job 1:21 NIV.
Obviously, in this post, we are looking at David’s mistake, his sin that cost him, big time. But your prayer may not have anything to do with your actions. But yet, God’s answer is not what you wanted to hear.
Fasting prepares your heart for God’s answer, no matter what it might be. We may not get the answer we want but we can rest assured God is working all things for our good. If He says, “No”, we can trust Him that He knows what is best, He can see down the road! Remember, we don’t fast to change God, we fast to change US; to make us more like Jesus and cleanse us from things that would hold us back or cause us to stumble.
Fasting brings hidden things to light! And while fasting and praying, God can reveal things to us that may be a hindrance in our walk. Because we are fasting, our mind becomes more clear and nothing is in the way of our hearing His voice.
So be encouraged today, if your prayer isn’t answered the way you preferred, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you, in fact it means HE DOES LOVE YOU, He is protecting you, covering you, leading you and He knows that His answer is the best answer. And you will too, one day soon.
Be blessed as you continue to make fasting a regular part of your spiritual walk.
Don’t forget to grab your copy of The Daniel Fast Devotional! Good for any fast, it is a great, easy read with devotions for every day of a three week fast. Get yours on Amazon here!
