Day 23 :: Queen Esther

All hail the Queen.

I love the book of Esther. It’s a fairly short read, I highly recommend it. It’s an amazing story of sacrifice and courage starring this one young girl. Or one little vegetable, as the case may be. 🙂

I wish we could watch the whole episode together and just chat about it. Veggie Tales does this thang where they make Bible stories super easy to understand and talk about. Especially for us simple-minded folk – meaning me.

Here’s a quick overly-simple explanation of the story of Esther.

King Xerxes is married to Queen Vashti.

Queen Vashti angers him and in a drunken rage, he sends her away forever.

So he sends some of his dudes on a search throughout the land for a new queen. And they collect up lots o’ pretty girls and bring them back to the King’s palace. One of these girls is a young Jewish gal called Esther. She’s gorgie-poo and super sweet and lovely. Her uncle, who is like a father to her, Mordecai, works at the palace. So he checks on her a lot during the months of beauty treatments before she meets the King.

[I told you this was a simple retelling. Just hang with me. Or read the book yourself. Or both. 🙂]

King Xerxes loved her and makes her Queen. Bam. He doesn’t know she’s a Jew, and she doesn’t tell.

Soon, one of the King’s top guys, Haman, comes up with a plot to kill all the Jews in the land. And Mordecai hears and tells Esther that she must save her people.

Here comes the courage part…. as if the whole becoming Queen process wasn’t courageous enough.

It was totally illegal for Esther to approach the King. It was also illegal, thanks to Haman’s new No Jews Allowed thing, to be Jewish.

So when Mordecai said that Esther had to stop this plot and save the Jewish people by talking to the King, she originally said no thanks. [I like this girl. I like her so much.]

Then Mordecai sent her this note:

He sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4)

My friend Melissa, one of the missionaries in Prague, and I were talking about this exact section of scripture. Can you imagine God giving you a chance to be courageous and you turn it down, knowing that He will find someone else to do it? I would never want that. I’m sure I’ve done it before, but it breaks my heart to think that my NO to God caused Him to offer my courageous choice to someone else.

You really should read the rest of the story. It doesn’t get much more dramatic and suspenseful and amazing than this.

Spoiler: Her courage pays off. Big time. [Just like courage still pays off today.]

I want to be like Esther. I want to proudly stand in the positions the Lord has given me and act courageous right there. It’s not about being the Queen. It’s about being brave right where you are.

We have to know that God has placed us HERE for such a time as this. You are not an accident. You were made on purpose and placed right where you are to be brave and bring Him glory.

. . . . .

Where have you been placed for such a time as this?

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