21 Days of Fasting and Prayer Devotional: Send RevivalSample

Day 12: All About Appetite

We live in a fast-food, microwave driven society. We want things easier, quicker, and less expensive. This expectation pervades today’s marketing and advertising efforts as well. And while there is nothing inherently wrong about wanting things faster and cheaper, if we aren’t careful, we can allow that spirit to leak into our spiritual lives which can have devastating effects. God does not work on the premise of faster and cheaper; it’s often the opposite. He often works on timetables that don’t line up with our human understanding, and He rarely takes the path of least resistance when working out His divine solutions.

In Genesis 25, we read a powerful story that relates directly to this very issue. Eldest son Esau came home famished from hunting. His brother Jacob took advantage of Esau’s weakened position, knowing he would come in exhausted and desire a quick solution.

Esau asked for some of the stew and Jacob saw his opportunity. He offered a trade. He would give Esau his stew if Esau gave Jacob his birthright (the right to the inheritance and spiritual leadership of the family). This was a major, one-way advantage trade. You would think Esau would never consider such a trade, but exhaustion and short-cut thinking can cause one to make very poor decisions. 

Esau accepted the deal. It seems absurd 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. There is no short-cut to daily living in God’s blessing and promise in our life. Growing in our relationship with Him and experiencing His best never happens in a microwave. It happens through our daily consistent walk and pursuit of knowing Him more.  

That is why 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, The Message)

God did not take the short-cut in bringing about our salvation. He provided the ultimate sacrifice for our sin–His own Son. God is not interested in the easy way out but the best way through.

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.”

As Piper wrote, God responds to fasting when it demonstrates your heart’s cry. God loves to reward those who diligently seek Him.