This, I Believe: Fasting – Getting to a high place

I want to find a correlation between giving up food for a certain period of time and getting to a high place as a form of offering up gratitude, receiving additional guidance, and asking for special blessings.

As a child growing up in my parent’s home, we would hold a morning fast each month. We weren’t ever quite organized enough to do a full twenty four hour fast – so we would skip breakfast before church and then eat our normal Sunday late lunch/early dinner. I went through the motions but didn’t start understanding for myself the real purpose of the fast until while on my mission and after.

I often wonder what fasting does for me other than a simple expression to the Lord of compliance. I’m sure He knows how much we love food and our natural tendency to settle the desires of our flesh, and the challenge it creates for us to abstain from food or drink for twenty four hours. Showing self discipline and control for a spiritual purpose would certainly please Him.

I’m sure that deity appreciates our willingness to raise funds with our fast offerings to feed those in need around the world. I’m also fairly sure that the Lord has a few chuckles each time a young child declares to his mother that he will surely die of starvation without breakfast that Sunday morning…

Besides these reasons and several more that could be noted – I believe fasting creates for us an opportunity to be humbled.


During my childhood I became extremely overweight. It was starting to affect almost every part of my life in a negative way. I couldn’t function like others my age could and my physical activities were extensively restricted. After barely surviving freshman football I was encouraged by a good friend and mentor to turn out for wrestling. It wasn’t until the end of the season that I could do a full set of twenty pushups. At some point during every practice I was on the brink of tears. No matter how hard I trained or perfected my moves I didn’t win a match for months, finding my only competition with those 100 pounds lighter than I.

After one particularly difficult practice I found myself in the coach’s office with my chin down and my eyes glued to the floor. I had nearly reached complete and total exhaustion both physically and emotionally. I remember a distinct feeling of complete helplessness. Inside I was pleading for help or instruction – and was more ready to receive it than at any other moment on the mat. I was a broken man, a warm ball of wax begging to be molded.


Over the last couple of years and with my recent weekly fasts I’ve discovered a similar feeling that I experience after having skipped consecutive meals. My body feels weakened, I’m slightly light headed, and my mood becomes a little more somber. With the added onset of some anxiety, that same feeling of helplessness kicks in and I turn into a dry sponge soaking up water. The likeliness of my accepting of any teaching/instruction/help drastically increases.

With this connection of physical exhaustion leading to brokenness and humility, it’s no wonder why Moses was required to climb a large mountain to receive instruction of the Lord, nor why the temple is also referred to symbolically as the Mountain of the Lord.