A Summary of the Creation Story

The story of creation is an incredible display of God's power and ability to create substance from nothing. For one week God works carefully and intricately to bring His creation into existence using only His words. On the seventh day, He rested from all His work that He had done (Genesis 2:2) because everything was as it should have been: perfect and in order. Let's revise what was created in the first week of the world:

Day 1: Light
Day 2 : Skies
Day 3 : Land, seas & fruit bearing plants, trees, herbs and grass with their seeds in them
Day 4: Sun, moon and stars
Day 5 : Birds of the air and animals of the waters
Day 6 : Land animals and humans
Day 7: The Sabbath

(Genesis 1 & 2)

The Bible tells us several times that everything that God created was good in His sight. God's sequence of creation is not without purpose or reason. Whatever He created is designed to be dependent on what was created previously. For example, light was brought forth on the first day, and plants were brought forth on day three. Therefore, plants require light to photosynthesize. Another example is that land animals were created on day six. And we know that a vast majority of fauna rely on land, vegetation, water, and light to survive. I find it interesting that the further down something is along this sequence of creation, the more dependent it becomes.  

The same can be said for humans: we are the most dependent of all creation. We need this planet to survive for our physical needs. But in His grace, God made sure to supply Himself to us as well to fulfill our spiritual needs:

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.
(Genesis 1:26-27)

From all the things and creatures He created, the Lord chose us and designed us to mirror His image. And if that wasn't enough, He even made us rulers of this world, despite being the most dependent of all creation:

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.
(Genesis 1:28)

And if that still wasn't enough, He gave us more food than we could eat:

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
(Genesis 1:29-30)

And if that was not enough, God made a friend for Adam to help him and be a companion to him:

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him"...So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
(Genesis 2: 18, 21-22)

And if that still was not enough, God instituted the Sabbath as a day of rest, indicating to us that everything we needed was provided and we did not need to work to supply ourselves:

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
(Genesis 2:1-3)

God understands that His people are prone to hunger.  He knows that we have a need for rest, food, companionship, beauty, and wisdom. God knows that our deepest desire is LIFE and life more abundantly - eternal life! (John 10:10). But He did not leave us in lack (Psalm 23:1-3). 

So what does this have to do with fasting?

For the longest time, I struggled to fast, "why must  I deliberately choose to be hungry?" I asked. But it wasn't until revising the story of creation with one of my friends, that it finally made sense: we are already hungry. Being the last to be created, we are dependent whether we care to admit it or not. It actually makes the devil's deception towards Eve even more diabolical. He did not target the sun or moon. He did not target the plants or animals. Instead he targeted the most dependent and vulnerable part of creation: the woman. He made her question her dependency on God, her husband and creation: "Does God really care about you? Does God really take care of your needs?" 

Dearly Beloved, is this not the temptation that we face daily: to question the heart of God towards us? And instead of going directly to God our ultimate source, we try to fix things ourselves. We try to feed ourselves. We try to nourish and sustain ourselves, not knowing that it is against God's design for us to be independent in that way. We are always going to hunger for beautiful things to look at, food to eat and things to make us wise (Genesis 3:6). The question is not whether we should fast or not, but whether we want to go back to the source of our lives or not. When you choose to fast, you're choosing to feed on God's every word which is truth (Matthew 4:4). 

This reminds me of what God said to David after he sinned against God with Bathsheba:

...This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
(2 Samuel 12:7-8)

God desires to give us more life (John 10:10, Romans) and He wants to give us what our hearts truly desire (Psalm 37:4; Matthew 5:6). We only have to ask Him and He shall provide it for us (John 14:13-14; Matthew 7:7). Fasting regularly is acknowledging that God is the source of all our needs and that He's our life.

20 April 2025