The Book of Esther
Esther: truly one of my favorite stories in the Bible. There is so much to unpack here, & honestly, everytime I read it I find another new thing.
Something that I had never seen before until reading this time zoomed in on women is that Esther’s story starts because the King and his royal advisors fear the influence of a woman. Queen Vashti was summoned to the King, & she refused to come. Because she did this, they thought that all of the women in the entire kingdom would begin refusing orders from their husbands.
Women of God, do not underestimate your influence.
Esther used hers to save an entire nation. What will you use yours for?
1 Chronicles 4:10 - “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.”
Another thing that caught my eye for the first time about Esther was that she was an orphan. Mordecai was Esther’s cousin, but the Bible says that he “adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter” (Esther 2:7).
The relationship of Esther and Mordecai reminded me of another adoptive relationship, between us and the Father.
When we are adopted into the family of God, we are no longer orphans, but heirs & joint heirs with Jesus. He promises us in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
The beautiful thing about Mordecai and Esther is that Mordecai never leaves Esther while she goes to fulfill her calling. “Every day Mordecai would take a walk near the courtyard of the harem to find out about Esther and what was happening to her” (2:11). They sent messages to each other, Mordecai prayed and fasted for her, & he never let her face this giant alone. In fact, it was the very same person that looked at her & said I will not leave you as an orphan that looked at her and said, “you have come to your position for such a time as this.” (4:14)
As you come into your calling, the one who looked at you & said I will not leave you an orphan is also saying to you, “You have come to your position for such a time as this.”
He will not leave you. He is here to talk with you, intercede for you, & never let you face your giants alone.
Esther was wise enough to invite people into her calling. She asked people to pray & fast for her, not because she was too weak to do it alone, but because she was strong enough to invite them.
It’s okay to feel called to big things. It’s okay to feel called to scary things. It’s okay to not know what your calling will look like. Esther knew it was big, she knew it was scary, & she didn’t know exactly what it would look like.
But here is our confidence, as we enter the throne room to accept the call, we never walk in alone.
“the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard” Isaiah 52:12
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