A stab of hunger pain — it’s hours until Iftar, the meal when the fast is broken. A dry, scratchy throat, raspy for a drink of water. Saliva will have to do unless you are very devout and don’t swallow your spit at all. From sunrise to sundown, Muslims fast from food, drink, smoking and sexual relations during the holy month of Ramadan, which this year lasts from March 11 to April 9.
This physical pain and thirst indicate devotion, submission and a desire for acceptance. This aching hunger for acceptance and intimacy propels us as Christians to share that we are loved and accepted not by what we do as humans but because we are made in His image. Hope is within hand’s reach.
Pray they will hunger and thirst no more and find their worth and value in their Creator. Download a 30-day Ramadan prayer guide and join International Mission Board staff in daily interceding for the 1.8 billion followers of Islam.