The decision that no play would be possible at Chelmsford was taken by the umpires at 14:15 BST.
The Red Rose county are eight points behind Surrey, and promotion has already been secured by both teams.
Alastair Cook is set to play for Essex before England's tour to the UAE, where they will play Tests against Pakistan.
Lancashire batsman Alviro Petersen:
"Losing the day's play was not great but there is still time to get a result.
"At the start of the season, if people had said we would get promotion and win the T20, we would have taken that but we are still hopeful of winning the division."
Essex captain James Foster:
"There's nothing you can do about the weather and the ground is extremely wet.
"But there are still three days left for play and we are keen to pit our skills  against a side who are guaranteed promotion."
Lancashire's hopes of pipping Surrey to the Division Two title suffered a setback when the opening day of their game against Essex was rained off.