No matter the translation in which I read Esther 9:1, I find myself getting goose bumps. Read this verse, written out below, in several different versions: The order the king had commanded was to be done on the thirteenth…
When we left Queen Esther last week, she had called her people to a fast. As she waited on the Lord, God stepped in with an answer. No doubt, He helped to do exactly what He promised Isaiah…
Since January, I’ve been reading books written by, and about, several women of great faith.
All of them, women who have “gone before” – most of them missionaries – whose compelling virtue was to speak the Word of God to people who needed to hear!
Women, who lived in the early to mid 1900’s, a generation apart from us.
A generation often awarded the title, “The Greatest Generation”; and, I now know why.
If there is one outstanding lesson gained by looking into their lives it is this:
They made it through great difficulty because each held to a solid theology of suffering.
Our world today is poignantly lacking a solid theology of suffering.
A verse popped up this week in the Daily Light (a little volume of compiled verses, first published in 1794, that each woman held in common):
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).”
These gals sought and found their courage to live amidst incredible hardship in the God of EVERLASTING COMFORT AND GOOD HOPE & He, then, in turn, gave them COURAGE!
You and I aren’t born with courage.
We can’t search for it, or find it hidden somewhere in the grass like last week’s Easter eggs.
Courage can be developed and lost again.
It’s as elusive as a cloud on a windy day.
When we most need courage, for certain that’s when we won’t have it.
I’m as certain as I am of the sun going down this evening, that Esther didn’t have any the day she learned the reason why her uncle was wailing in the city gates, dressed in sackcloth, and pouring ashes over his head.
A number of things transpired between Esther’s crowning and her courageous stand before the King. I will quickly summarize:
- Mordecai uncovered a plot to kill King Xerxes
- He wasn’t honored (not even a pat on the back) – but that served God’s purposes
- Haman the Agagite was promoted to a high ranking position – like Vice President or Majority Leader
- Haman wanted everyone to bow to him
- Mordecai would not
- Haman plotted to kill Mordecai by virtue of killing off Mordecai’s entire race (this was an act of revenge for his great-great-great-great grandfather – a long story)
The king signed Haman’s plot with his irreversible signature, which meant this was a done deal, and this is why Esther find’s Mordecai wailing in the city gates.
Through a messenger, Mordecai unfolds the bad news to his niece, and cryptically confides in her these challenging words:
“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
The words hit a home run in Esther’s heart, and she responded,
“…gather all the Jews to be found, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. (4:12-17)“
As I begin to write about Esther, one phrase stands out to me in the early part of her story. These words are used three times, in which we are told Esther “won the favor of the King.”…
I’ve enjoyed reviewing some of the stories of significant women of the Bible over the last 30 weeks (30 weeks!!!! I had no idea). But, I’m thinking it’s time to start winding down this series I’ve based on the…
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