21 Days of Fasting and Prayer Devotional: Mountains Will Move!Sample

Day 7: All About Appetite

Fasting is all about appetite. The writer of Hebrews says, “Watch out for the Esau syndrome: trading away God’s lifelong gift in order to satisfy a short-term appetite” (Hebrews 12:16, MSG).

In Genesis 25, we read that Esau came home famished from hunting, and noticed that his brother, Jacob, was cooking. As you would expect, he asked for some of the food. Jacob offered a trade–he would give Esau his stew if Esau gave Jacob his birthright (note: a birthright was the right to the inheritance and spiritual leadership of the family). Here’s the crazy part, Esau accepted the deal. It seems bizarre that Esau would sacrifice something so valuable for something so small, but the truth is, it happens to all of us. We can find ourselves settling for less for the sake of satisfying short-term appetites.

Fasting is all about appetite.

Fasting is ultimately a declaration of what our greatest appetite is and what we believe will ultimately satisfy us. This is precisely why God honors fasting and works so powerfully through it. In his book, A Hunger for God, John Piper writes, “God rewards fasting because fasting expresses the cry of the heart that nothing on the earth can satisfy our souls besides God. God must reward this cry because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”