The Dare of Dependence

“As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God” (Psalm 42:1-2).

Have you ever been outside on a blistering summer day and you’re sweating, you’re tired, your throat is so dry that it feels like sandpaper, and all you can think about is drinking something cool?

In Psalm 42, David writes that he thirsts for God the way a deer pants for water. He writes again in Psalm 63, “…I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water” (Psalm 63:1). How thirsty are you? How hungry are you for the Bread of Life?  

Fasting makes you crave. Whether you give up a particular food, have a strict eating schedule, or fast from distractions such as social media and streaming—you crave the thing you cut out. The point is that every time you get the craving, you remember Him. You turn your attention to Him because your craving reminds you why you’re giving it up.

A physical craving turns into a spiritual craving, and that’s why Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). But if your purpose for fasting isn’t to satisfy a spiritual craving, then there is no point. You’re just cutting things out for no reason.

In our last devotion, we discussed how prayer is essential to fasting. You can pray without fasting, but you can’t fast without praying. Prayer becomes your priority during a season of fasting because every time you get the craving for what you’ve given up, you enter into intentional prayer saying, “God, I want you more than what I’ve given up for You in this season. I’m thirsty for You.”

It's all about dependence. How dependent are you on the Lord? Our every breath is dependent on Him. But could we live in total abandonment of all other comforts and pleasures if it means we have more of Him?

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, and the Word says, “He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, He was hungry” (Luke 4:2). Why does Scripture tell us that He was hungry? Because up until that time, God in human form—Jesus—had never known hunger like that before. God has no hunger on the throne of heaven. But Jesus models what it looks like to depend on the Father. While He is hungry, He disarms the devil by speaking the truth of the Word, because the Word is God’s bread for us.

May we have an appetite for His words. While we hunger and crave for the things we want, may we be satisfied by Him through prayer and through His voice, finding satisfaction in Him that we never dared to believe in before.