God at Work

Day three hundred thirty-four

I am thankful for sleep this morning, I so needed to sleep in!  It's amazing what sleep does for my attitude and perspective. As always the Lord knows what he is talking about when he tells us that we need to rest!  So grateful for the gospel in my life!

Esther 2

There are times in our lives when we feel like we have no control over what is happening.  I imagine Esther had this same thought run through her head a time or two; her life was filled with events that she had no control over.  A closer look at the events of Esther's life will help us see that even when we are not in control, God is, and He is putting everything and everyone in position to ensure His plans come through.

We left chapter 1 with king Ahasuerus banishing his wife, Vashti, for refusing to degrade herself by parading in front of a bunch of drunken men.  Chapter 2 starts with "After these things..." What things?  The thing with Queen Vashti?  No, there is much more that goes on between chapters 1 and 2.

The Bible doesn't give us a record of what happened, but the history books tell us that the king led a great army against the Greeks.  There were several battles and he was soundly beaten.  The power was about to pass from Persia to Greece as Daniel had prophesied years before! 

After his defeat the king returned in deep dejection to his palace. Added to his misery was the absence of his queen and the fact that the law of the Persians could not be altered, even by the king himself. Vashti could never be his queen again.  This left an opening to be filled and it just happens that God has the perfect person for the job! 

So the servants are watching the king and they are aware of his state of mind. They know that something must be done, so they suggest a beauty pageant for the king to choose a new queen.  This pleases the king and so the search begins.

This is where we really start to see the hand of God working in the palace.  He is arranging the events so that at the proper time He will have someone to intervene in behalf of His people, the Jews.

We learn of Mordecai and Esther, two people who seem like the unlikeliest choice for God to work through.  Mordicai is a Jew whose family was taken into captivity and brought to Persia.  Esther is his orphaned cousin, whom he chooses to raise after his uncle is killed. 

Imagine living in a foreign country where there was a dictatorship in power, you have no rights and your life is not your own. You are an orphan and you are a woman which means you have no rights what so ever, you are regarded as a piece of property. And on top of all of that you are a minority in that country, a minority that is hated and looked on with suspicion. The only good thing happening in your life is you are being raised by a cousin who has done a good job of raising you as his daughter. Raising you in the ways of the Lord. That is the life that Esther was living!

Then just when you think life will be okay, along comes a king in need of a queen and decides he will have a beauty pageant to find one.  He makes a decree that all the girls deemed beautiful would be brought to the palace to prepare for this pageant.  Esther is described as fair and beautiful, she will be among those taken to the palace.  It should be noted that this wasn't an exciting event for Esther, she was taken.  Taken against her will, by force.  She was a reluctant participant in this whole thing.

I want to stop at this point in the story and ponder what I would have done in this situation.  It is easy for us to see God at work in Esther's life now, but I don't imagine she is seeing it that way. I have a hard time seeing God at work in my own life sometimes and rarely is it in the middle of what is going on.  When life feels out of control my first thought is not that God is busy working out His plan for my life.  My thoughts usually lean more towards, "Why is this happening to me?"

Back to our story:

So beautiful girls are gathered from all 127 provinces to the palace (Josephus tells us there were about 400 girls).  So Esther catches the eye of Hegai (v 9), there is something about her that he really likes. Notice the phrase in verse 9 "she obtained kindness of him."

The literal translation of the original language is: She lifted up grace before his face. That is an awesome expression, one worthy of taking note of. Her countenance was grace magnified.  Here she is taken against her will, thrust into this pageant with all these other girls (the competition and atmosphere had to be intense) and in the midst of all that Esther did not display a sour attitude. She didn’t display an “it is all about me attitude”.  Instead she chose to model grace before this influential servant of the king.

What a great trait! What do I model in difficulty? I don't know if I would call it grace, it is more like complaining, grumpy, downcast, woe is me, and my life is so hard.  I am working on it!

Because of her grace, God blesses her for it.  She receives some special attention. It is obvious that God is working here.  Maybe I need to change my actions and try grace instead of the usual.  There are some times when I could really use some special attention!

There is so much to ponder in this story.  So much to learn! I am looking at the events in my own life and starting to see that God has been working in it for a long time.  Those out of control moments had a purpose and it wasn't just to make my life difficult. It makes me wish that I had shown a little more grace through these situations and a lot more gratitude.  The saving grace is that there will always be another opportunity to put what I have learned into action.  That's just the way He works!