Esther's Fast: Courage, Faith, and Such a Time as This

"And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" — Esther 4:14

Last week, we reflected on Daniel's fast — how it strengthened him as he wrestled with the challenge of living faithfully for God in a godless society. This week, we turn to another Old Testament example of fasting: the remarkable story of Esther.

Who Was Esther?

Esther was a young Jewish woman living in exile in Persia during the reign of King Xerxes. Her Hebrew name was Hadassah. When the king was searching for a new queen, her older cousin Mordecai persuaded her to enter the competition — a kind of ancient cross between Love Island and X Factor. She won, and consequently found herself in a position of influence at the heart of the Persian royal court.

A Perilous Turning Point

Not long after her marriage to the king, the situation for Esther's own people — the Jews — took a perilous turn for the worse. In a jealous rage, a man called Haman managed to persuade the king to issue an unchangeable edict to commit genocide: Jews throughout the Persian Empire were to be slaughtered.

Esther, who until now had kept her ethnicity secret, was urged by her cousin Mordecai to plead with the king to save her people. Maybe God had raised her to a position of prominence for this exact moment — but no one could approach the king without being personally invited, on pain of death. Could she really risk her life by going into the king's presence without permission?

Fasting as a Cry to God

Realising what was at stake, Esther fasted from food and drink for three days and nights, and asked her fellow Jews to do the same. Her fast was a way of crying out to God for his favour as she prepared to summon the courage to put her head above the parapet on behalf of God's people.

Her bold conclusion was unforgettable: "When this is done, I will go to the King, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!" What a woman of faith! Esther believed God would honour her fast and save both her and her people — but if he didn't, she was still committed to doing the right thing, whatever the outcome.

God Turns the Tables

God saw Esther's fast, heard her prayers, gave her the courage to go to Xerxes and plead for justice and mercy — and in his sovereign providential grace, God turned the tables on the evil Haman. Haman lost his life, and God's people were saved.

Thank God for Esther. If she had been unsuccessful, Jesus the Messiah would never have been born. Her one act of bravery had seismic repercussions in time and space from which we benefit today. Every year since then, Jews all over the world have remembered God's deliverance through the courage of Esther by observing the Feast of Purim — which was celebrated just last week on 3rd March.

Called for Such a Time as This

It takes courage to live faithfully for Jesus in our world today. There are times God calls us to leave our comfort zone — to put our head above the parapet, to advocate for justice and mercy on behalf of others, to be a voice for the voiceless. This can sometimes be risky and costly.

But who knows if God may have put us in the exact position in which we find ourselves in life, for such a time as this? So let's follow the example of Esther and make use of the spiritual discipline of fasting and prayer as we seek to be faithful and fruitful servants of our sovereign God.

Every blessing,