Fasting as a Response to Impossible Circumstances
"Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish." Esther 4:16 NRSV
Queen Esther understood that in times of extreme danger, the spiritual discipline of fasting allows us to seek God in "a committed, undivided way." We humble ourselves, breaking from our regular rhythms, pursuing the "deliverance" that only God can provide.
By going to the king, Queen Esther risks her life for the sake of others - her people, the Jews. With the lives of Esther and the Jews hanging in the balance due to Haman's plot to kill all the Jews in the land, Esther calls for the most extreme version of fasting - a three-day absolute fast without food or water.
Esther does not instruct Mordecai and the Jews to do anything she is unwilling to do. Like the others, she and her maids enter into a three-day fast. In this act, Esther humbled herself before God and the other Jews.
After three days of prayer and fasting, she goes before the king and finds favor in his eyes. And Esther and the Jews are spared from Haman's plot.
Queen Esther knew how dire the circumstances were for her and the Jews, so she called for a corporate fast to ask the Lord to act on their behalf, but she also knew that His purposes would prevail whether she lived or died.
Are you or someone you know facing what feels like impossible circumstances? Could it be that God is calling you to pray and fast as a way of surrendering the events to Him?
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