Fasting for the Upwardly Mobile

Fasting for the Upwardly Mobile

 You may think of fasting as something done only by people who have taken vows of poverty, or perhaps by the highly devout. But Zechariah discussed fasting for people who were prospering materially (Zech. 7:5). Largely because their community was in the middle of a building boom, they were moving up the ladder economically. In today’s terms they might be called upwardly mobile.

 It is interesting that Zechariah challenged these people with fasting in the context of community development and social justice (Zech. 7:6–10). This leads to at least three reasons why fasting can be a valuable practice for people who are recovering economically and moving up in the world:

     (1).      Fasting can help us remember what it was like to be hungry and to do without.

     (2).      Fasting can help us focus on the Lord and His spiritual resources that sustained us when we didn’t have much.

     (3).      Fasting can help us open our hearts and identify with the poor and hungry in our world.