A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 4:6
As we fast, many of us are asking God to show Himself. We want God to reveal Himself to us and show us who He is. This is certainly not unique to human experience. If people are given the chance to ask God a question, many simply wonder, “Where are you?” We wonder, “If you’re present everywhere, if you love us and want a relationship with us, then why don’t we hear from you?” Fasting promises insight into God’s hiddenness. In many ways, we are like Moses in Exodus 34. Moses, wanting to know this God who has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and is taking them to the Promised Land, asks God to show him His Glory.
As we fast, many of us are asking God to show Himself. We want God to reveal Himself to us and show us who He is. This is certainly not unique to human experience. If people are given the chance to ask God a question, many simply wonder, “Where are you?” We wonder, “If you’re present everywhere, if you love us and want a relationship with us, then why don’t we hear from you?” Fasting promises insight into God’s hiddenness. In many ways, we are like Moses in Exodus 34. Moses, wanting to know this God who has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and is taking them to the Promised Land, asks God to show him His Glory.
The problem, of course, is that no one can see the face of God and live. Even Moses can only see God’s back. We want to know God as God is, but He remains hidden from us. Our relationship with God remains one of alienation, and, in frustration, we wonder why God isn’t talking to us.
But this same God, who said “let light shine out of darkness,” made His light to shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Our knowledge of God, the hidden God whose face we cannot see and live, shows through the fog of alienation in the face of Christ. God’s glory, God’s revelation, and God’s face are seen in the face of Christ. When we want to know what God is like, to know God’s goodness, to know and be known by God, the face we must search for and find is the face of Jesus.
So when we fast, let us not look for God’s face anywhere but where it shines most clearly, most brightly, and most truly; God, who created the world, whose power sustains our existence, has let His light shine in our hearts in the face of Christ. In our fasting, let’s turn to Jesus today and live.
John Cunningham
Ministry Fellow at Penn
