Prayer & Fasting For Such a Time

by Ellen Clodfelter

This month we are focusing on the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting. There are many examples of people doing this in the Bible; Jesus in the wilderness, Moses on the mountain, Nehemiah when Jerusalem was destroyed, and Paul and Barnabas when they appointed elders. 

Today, I want to focus on my favorite book of the Bible. This book often gets overlooked and interestingly, it doesn’t even mention God by name. Yet, it is a powerful example of prayer and fasting. That book is Esther. 

Esther found herself in a very precarious and powerless position. She was a Jewish orphan and was taken into the King’s harem and eventually chosen to be queen. This was not a fairy tale; she was only chosen because she was the most beautiful. She had no say in the matter. This was completely out of her control because the previous queen had said “no” to the king and was banished from his presence. Esther’s story is a great example that life often takes turns and goes in directions that we least expect. 

How many times do I find myself in a situation that feels completely out of my control? It is very unlikely that I will ever find myself in Esther’s place, but there have been many times when I have felt powerless. 

Month after month, praying and hoping … yet still I was not pregnant. Another infertility treatment had failed ... and another friend was having a baby. The disappointment, sadness and mourning over what I thought the future was supposed to look like was almost too much to bear. 

That is my story, but we all face struggles. Others find themselves in the middle of divorce, failure, financial pressure, anxiety, loneliness, illness, cancer, death and grief. Life is full of pain and circumstances beyond our control, and they often come when we least expect it. We normally try to deal with things in unhealthy ways. We try to gain control by stressing, worrying, getting angry, emotional eating, alcohol, or even drugs. 

Even as queen, Esther had very little control over her life. When a plot to annihilate the Jewish people was revealed, she faced death herself. Once again, she had no control. What did she do? Esther and the entire Jewish community did something that no one expected. They stopped, fasted, and prayed for three days. They decided to turn to the One who had control over everything – God. Esther was positioned in the palace “for such a time as this” to save her people, to be an instrument of God’s deliverance. 

So instead of turning to our usual ways of coping, what if we followed Esther’s lead? What if we paused, fasted, and prayed? Take a day, or two or three, to spend in fasting and prayer and see how things turn. What does God want me to see in the middle of my mess? Imagine if we went to God first with our troubles, instead of last. What if, in the middle of our own chaos, someone reminded us of the same truth? What if you were placed in your situation … for such a time as this? 

As mentioned earlier, the most well-known story of prayer and fasting in the Bible is Jesus in the wilderness. During the forty days, Jesus fasted as He prepared to start His ministry. Even at his weakest, He was still able to resist the enemy’s temptations. He turned his focus from his physical needs to his spiritual needs. Fasting isn’t just about skipping a meal, it is a time to turn our face and hearts to God, to be quiet and listen to what He wants us to hear. This is exactly what Esther did, she turned to God. 

Esther was put in the position of queen “for such a time as this” and was used as an instrument of God’s deliverance for her people. God sent Jesus and put him in the position “for such a time as this” and He was the instrument of God’s deliverance for ALL people. What if we allow God to use us, “for such a time as this” and allow God to use us as his instrument to save people? 

So the next time we come to a difficult road we must walk through, let’s use both Esther’s and Jesus’ example of prayer and fasting and allow God to be in control. Imagine the difference we could make in our own and others’ lives.