Fasting Day 11 of 40 | Second Monday of Lent
“Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Jonah 3:4
God can do a lot in forty days. Jonah never dreamed that God could transform the hearts of the 120,000 people in the notoriously wicked capital of the Assyrian empire. These people could not “tell their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). He underestimated God’s strength!
In Story of a Soul, Thérèse of Lisieux wrote about her forty days of fasting. “God granted me, last year, the consolation of observing the fast during Lent in all its rigor. Never had I felt so strong.”13
The paradox of the Christian journey Is that strength is found in surrender, in weakness, and in fasting. With thirty days of fasting left, I pray you observe it with rigor because the gain is unfathomable. When you fast, pray, and give with rigor during Lent, you get God in abundance. With Him comes discernment you never dreamed, peace amid peril, confidence to face any crisis, wisdom for your work, and help that multiplies hope. And that’s only the beginning.
Jonah ran the other way when God tapped him for his task. And God used a fish to get him to the right place. What does God want you to do? Don’t flee. Surrender Trust Him to give you incalculable strength.
God, exchange my surrender with your strength during Lent. Amen.
Journal on this: What does God want you to do that would only be possible with His strength at work in you?