Hello and Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was pretty low key…actually really low key. We did take an evening excursion to Trader Joes though on Saturday, which was excellent, and made a quick stop at our favorite bubble tea shop which was right down the road [so convenient]. But, other than that, nothing new to report.
In other news, I’ve been reading the book of Esther over the weekend. If you haven’t actually read the whole book, I would encourage you to do so—it’s very good! If you’re not familiar with Esther’s story, let me give you a brief background. Esther was a Jew, who was chosen amongst many other beautiful women to be the new queen in Persia. During her time as queen, an evil advisor convinced the king to issue a decree stating that anyone could kill any Jew at any time beginning on a certain set date in the near future. The king wasn’t fully aware of what this decree entailed, and definitely did not know that his own queen was, in fact, a Jew. When Esther learned about the decree from her cousin Mordecai, she was devastated. Devastated and afraid. But, under her cousins’ instruction, she decided to approach the king [which was illegal and punishable by death] and plead with him for the lives of her people. In the end, the king accepts her, listens to her, and eventually executes the evil advisor who instigated the imminent slaughter in the first place. He then gave the Jews the right to fight back and defend themselves against anyone who would attempt to harm them. In the end the Jews were saved—all because of Esther’s bravery. But just because she was brave, doesn’t mean she wasn’t afraid.
“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 4:14
Esther didn’t have any of the usual qualification for becoming a queen in Persia, and the circumstances that brought about her queen-ship were far from ordinary. But, God knew what he was doing. He knew about Haman’s [the evil advisor] plot to kill the Jews before he even spoke of it. He knew that someone who supported the Jews needed to be in authority to save them at that specific time. So, what did he do? He placed Esther in a position of authority, granted her favor with the king, and through her courage saved the Jews from imminent destruction.
She was right where God wanted her to be, exactly when he wanted her to be there. She was faithful to God’s promptings in her life, and her people reaped the benefits of her obedience.
We can learn a valuable lesson from Esther’s life. While we may not be destined to become royalty, or to save an entire nation from destruction, God has a specific plan and purpose for each of our lives. He has things for us to do, and a timeline for us to follow. It’s so important to be doing what he wants us to do when he wants us to do it. And the plans he has for us may require us to be courageous. They may not always be the most comfortable or easy actions for us to take—Esther definitely didn’t have an easy task. But, the end results will always be worth any discomfort we may initially experience.
Well, on that note, I’m off. Enjoy the rest of your day, and God Bless:)
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