There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21-23
“Fasting is a good thing, just as it is good to read Scripture, when, that is, your reading is followed by actual deeds, for if you read Scripture but do not do what it says, you read unto your own judgment and punishment.
For Scripture itself says: It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be made righteous; and Christ himself says: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Blessed, then, is he who speaks into the ears of those who hear, especially when their hearing generates spiritual interest and dividends, by which I mean obedience and the keeping of God’s commandments, just as the Lord says: So that when I come, I would have received my own with interest. Tell me, then, brother, what have you earned from your fasting?
For even the farmer sows that he might reap; and the merchant travels, that he might collect money; and the sailor crosses many seas, that he might fill his ship with goods. Don’t say to me: “I have fasted for so many days! I have not eaten! I have not drunk wine! I have gone without bathing!” Show me instead that, being wrathful, you became meek; and being cruel, you became compassionate.”
John Chrysostom (347-407) in On Fasting and Almsgiving.
One of my words this Lent is moderation. I am trying to work less and create margin for better things.
Last night I had the best somewhat spontaneously planned dinner with Paul Dettmann, a likeminded Christian steward with whom I had a remarkable number of common friends.
I am so glad I did not opt for landing in Melbourne and going to my hotel and just doing more work.
Perhaps you are learning this in Lent. When you let go of bad or even good things, you find better things, life giving things, growth in areas you need growth.
I pray your Lent is a time of fasting but coupled with gain, new heavenly earnings.
Ezra fasted from something good, getting help from the king. He asked God for something bigger, deliverance from God. Notice trusting the king would be forsaking God. He had to forsake the king to trust God. God showed up.