The first point and crucial bit of understanding is the first great commandment: to love God with all your heart, might and mind. To love God means to love His designs and order of the earth and cosmos. If he sends rain on the land, we must love it. If He sends floods to the land, we must love it too. We must take the perspective of God and not cling to the limited understanding and fleeting desires of people.
The Taoist story of the old farmer exemplifies this mindset. The old farmer had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.
"Maybe," the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.
"Maybe," replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.
“Maybe," answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
“Maybe," said the farmer.
To explain this point a bit differently - God will do what He wills and people must not have the audacity to question His will. To quote an LDS scripture: "As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream" as to hinder or change the will of God.
Therefore, how do we keep the first great commandment in harmony with the purpose of fasting? The real purpose of prayer and fasting is to allow yourself to more fully introspect to see and love the will of God. The purpose is not to change the will of God. To ask for something contrary to the will of God is to break the first great commandment. And many times, because of our limited perspective, we think we are praying for something to happen and when it does happen, we think we've supplicated God and he altered his course, when in fact, His course was going that way anyway!
The correct view on prayer and fasting is to humble ourselves to see the cosmos and Nature as it really is and to come to love it as it actually exists! In this way, we are fully focused on the correct purpose of fasting and obeying the first great commandment.
My wish, for all my fellow sisters and brothers in the Mormon community and those who will participate with them, as they enter a special fast on April 10, that they take the time to introspect and consider the question: "what is God's will in all this?" and "what is God's will for me in all this?" Have we all considered the possibility that this pandemic is what God really wants? And if it is what He wants, then why would we ask for him to change His mind? Don't we want the wisdom of God to lead our lives? Are we saying our wisdom is better than His?
Recognize that much of this (the pandemic, God's will, the economy) are out of our control. What is in our control is our attitude and our acceptance of events as they actually happen. Furthermore, what is in our control is how much we will contribute to charities that will feed the hungry, the poor, the unemployed and the elderly. What is in our control is how we will serve others and how we can brighten people's lives as many of us are in isolation.
An ancient Roman Stoic philosopher counseled his students with some wise advice: Don't ask for things to happen as you would like them to, but wish them to happen as they actually do, and you will be all right (Epictetus, Enchiridion 8).
Further reading on the correct view of prayer and fasting: Fasting is Not Twisting God's Arm
