There were very real dangers for these travelers in this desert land: enemies were in the way and bandits lay in wait (Ezra 8:22,31). The journey was not a short one; in all it took them four months. During that time it was necessary to feed and protect this company of men, women and children, and to guard the significant quantity of gold and silver that they were carrying. It was only natural that Ezra should have requested a military escort. However, this was not his way for, he had told the king, “The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him” (Ezra 8:22). Faithful words such as these are not to be spoken rashly, and Ezra was not such a man. He had counted the cost and knew that his God was able to protect them. However, it cannot be I and God, or even God and I, it must be all God; and so they fasted and humbled themselves before their God to seek of Him a right way: “I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance” (Ezra 8:21).
Fasting is not a form of flagellation; we cannot destroy the flesh through fasting. Rather, fasting results from putting the flesh in its true place, a place of death. What need is there to feed a dead man? Fasting can certainly be a conscious decision; however, unless it is accompanied by the right spirit, it will only exalt the flesh as monasticism does. In the Gospel of Mark we read of “prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29) — it speaks of dependence on God and separation from the world. This is not a formula; it describes a state of soul. With Daniel we see such a man (Dan. 9:3). We can hardly say that we are dependent on God when we are friends with the world. On the other hand, separation without dependence on God leads to self-glorification, as with the Pharisees.
This company by the river sought a right way for themselves, but their exercise did not end there; they also prayed for their little ones. God delights to bless families. God’s promise to the Philippian jailer, should he believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, was that he would be saved and his house — not saved on the basis of his faith, but rather, because of his faith blessing, and ultimately salvation, would come to all his. It is good to note that the last of the family of Adonikam, whom we first met in chapter two (Ezra 2:13), joined their brethren in the land (Ezra 8:13).
Having prayed for their families, they didn’t stop with that either. They also committed all their substance into God’s care. How often we find ourselves fretting, not about our loved ones, but about our stuff! “Regard not your stuff” was Pharaoh’s advice to the sons of Jacob — why bother with it, when all the good of the land of Egypt lay before them (Gen. 45:20). Likewise, Paul can say, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). That doesn’t mean that we are to be poor stewards of the things that we have been entrusted with. These men had a good deal entrusted to them. However, if we remember that everything that we have is the Lord’s, then we can say with Job, “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
The enemy’s efforts were directed at preventing their gathering to Jerusalem, God’s divine center. The enemy will always oppose a testimony to the truth. Like this feeble remnant, we can only be preserved if we are found in complete dependence on God, humbling ourselves before Him, and “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Titus 2:12). The outcome of their prayer and fasting before God was, “and He was intreated of us” (Ezra 8:23).