Pride is a tool satan uses against us.
Esther 1:16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: “Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
The queen had the audacity to refuse to be paraded for her looks alone. The pride of the King was hurt. God used the king’s pride to accomplish His will and bring in Esther as queen to save His chosen people.
Esther 2:7-11 and Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women. 9 Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. 10 Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. 11 And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.
God’s will always comes to pass. He will accomplish it in His way and in His timing to save those who place their trust in Him alone. Esther followed Mordecai’s words to keep secret that she was a Jew. The whole purpose of her becoming Queen was to save the Jews from annihilation
Esther 3:1-6 after these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 2 And all the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. 3 Then the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?” 4 Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai.
Numbers 24:6-7
Like valleys that stretch out,
Like gardens by the riverside,
Like aloes planted by the Lord,
Like cedars beside the waters.
7 He shall pour water from his buckets,
And his seed shall be in many waters.
“His king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
The Kingdom of Israel will be exalted. Amalek was the first of the nations to come against Israel.
1 Samuel 15:5-9 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Saul spared Agag and went against God’s demands. Haman is an Amalekite and he hated the Jew. Mordecai would not bow to a Amalekite. There are always repercussions to going against God’s will for our lives. He knows the end of what was meant for our good. We remove His protection out of His will for our lives. Satan will try to use any means to kill God’s people. He tried to use Haman and it backfired.
Esther 3:8-11 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”
In Christ and the power of Holy Spirit evil is kept away from His creation. Satan’s plans to kill, steal and destroy those who trust in Him cannot come to pass. Esther was born for just such a time as this.
Esther 4:13-14 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
God knows the plans that He has for our lives. We just need to rest in His peace and do what He places before us. Our lives are in His hands. We were made for a time like this! Carla
Esther responds, via Hathach, by deferring to the regulations of the laws of Persia—with which Mordecai would have already been familiar. Access to the king was strictly governed. This custom was likely put in place to prevent assassination attempts, to help manage the king’s time, and to set him apart from ordinary people. A symbol of royal authority. If someone came to the king unsummoned, the king would have to make an exception to the law Esther cites. As queen, it seems that Esther should have more access to the king, but apparently his interest in her had waned during the last four years (3:7). The Hebrew text uses a plural verb here to reference the carrying of messages back to Mordecai, suggesting that servants other than Hathach were involved. This could be explained by Esther’s ability to win people’s favor (2:15). Haman’s decree called for the death of all Jews (3:13), which meant that if Esther’s lineage was discovered, it would demand her execution. Faithlife Study Bible
Esther understood that Mordecai was asking her to risk her life. She was understandably fearful. Her fear was compounded by the fact that the king had not summoned her for thirty days, implying that she had not been enjoying the king’s favor recently. Who knew if he would still have regard for her at all? This verse constitutes the classic reference to the providence of God in the book. Mordecai, by his confidence that relief and deliverance would come from another place, was strongly asserting his faith in God and His promised protection of the Jewish people. God controls all that happens in His world and would intervene with or without Esther. If she refused to help, she would perish, along with her father’s house. Mordecai may be referring to divine judgment here. In the closing appeal, Mordecai suggested a providential reason for her becoming queen at this precise time in history; that is, Esther was acting as God’s agent in delivering the Jewish people. The NKJV Study Bible.
Esther 5:1–2 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.
Esther 8:4–5 And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king, and said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.
Esther 2:14 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.
Esther 6:4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
…if I am present, I see, and if I see, I can choose to make space for connection, honoring the gift that “We are on this journey together”.
I can see you, and not just the assumptions I make about you, or the agenda I have for you.
I can honor your pain, and make space for welcoming and healing and restoration (yes, from places of cruelty or hatred).
I can honor your joy, and make space for mutual celebration.
And if you have been excluded (or dismissed), I can honor your dignity and make space for you to be included and embraced.
…we can try Jesus' three-word counsel, "Do not worry," and just BE.
Being present allows us to stay emotionally and spiritually hydrated. Not that many years ago, I spoke to a group of hospice care workers here in the Pacific Northwest, about emotional and spiritual hydration. I started this way, “What I’m about to tell you is very selfish. I want self-care to matter to you. Yes, I want you to be replenished. Because one day, I will need one of you.” Sabbath Moments
Quote for our week… “Now is the only time I can do anything about.” Willie Nelson
Let's not allow our conscience to be clouded by disobedience or hypocrisy so that we become stumbling blocks for those seeking to follow Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:32). Instead, as we share about Christ's love and victory over sin, let us also behave with simple, sincere faith. First5
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