July 12, 2024

Author: Pastor Dave Miner
July 12, 2024

Reading: Esther 4                                                                       Optional Reading: Esther 1 - 3
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” [Esther 4:16 NIV]

 
Queen Esther caught in the middle. A wicked man, Haman had developed a hatred for her Uncle Mordecai because Mordecai was a Jew and wanted to kill all Jews. He talked King Xerxes into declaring a special day of slaughter. Anyone could kill a Jew and take his possessions on that day.
The queen was Jewish too, but no one knew it. She could easily hide herself. But her Uncle Mordecai told her, “Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 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 your royal position for such a time as this?”
Esther took it seriously. She had to help her people. Her problem was that the king had not seen her for a month. To walk into the king’s inner court unannounced was punishable by death. If the king did not admit her, Queen Esther invites death. That is why Esther said, “if I perish, I perish.”
God granted Esther success. When Esther got involved in saving her people, everything turned around. On the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, King Xerxes executed Haman.
God works when we live and walk in faith with Jesus. Look to him, and you will have success.

Lord, I trust you. Help me keep my eyes on you when the going gets tough. Amen.

 

BACK