Make It About Others

Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them, but my prayers returned unanswered. [Psalm 35.13]

I have taken this verse out of the context of Psalm 35 where it is part of the discourse of one treated wrongly by those he had treated right.

What I mean to discuss is not the theme of the Psalm, but something subtly implied within the Psalm that struck a spiritual chord in me today.

The thing I wish to note today is that David states that he actually fasted on behalf of others. This is noteworthy because I know in my own life that rarely do I fast for myself - let alone for others!

Fasting for others is a method I have yet to really grasp in practice. When someone asks me to pray for a particular need, I cannot recall ever having fasted specifically for such a request. Oh I have fasted for my own dilemmas, but I must confess I do not recall having ever fasted for the dilemma of another.

And, I wonder why my life seems so powerless...

Father, as much as I understand that Your Kingdom is about 'others' help me to truly make it about others myself.