Read Esther 7.
At the second banquet the king again asks Esther what she would like. What does she ask for this time?
Clearly angered by what happened the king asks: who did this?
The king walks out to the garden, maybe to control his anger, maybe to figure out what to do. Either way, what does he see as he walks back into the room?
What does Harbonah tell the king?
Read Esther 8.
What does the king give to Esther and Mordecai?
Esther goes before the king another time and falls at his feet begging. What is she asking him for?
What does King Xerxes do and then say in response?
What does the edict/letter say about the Jews (or give them permission to do)?
So how about this story?? It’s been quite interesting, hasn’t it?
In chapter 4, Mordecai gives Esther this pivotal piece of advice that we didn’t really talk about. In the ACV (Amber Carter Version) Mordecai says, “It’s not about you! You can chose to be the person He uses to save the Jews. But if you don’t they will be rescued by God somehow. Maybe the whole reason you became queen is for this moment.” The chapter ended and we didn’t know what Esther was going to do.
Now we’ve read what happens. We know she does risk her life to go before the king and plead for the salvation of the Jews. That resulted in Haman being destroyed, but not the salvation of the Jews. Esther risks her life a second time in chapter 8 to again plead for the salvation of the Jews. For a second time, the king reaches out the golden scepter and grants her her request.
Esther realizes “It’s not about me!” and does what she can to save her people. She put aside the very real danger she faced to do what she could.
Sometimes we make long-term commitments to live for Christ and not ourselves. Sometimes it’s commitments that require some sacrifice to put others first. But sometimes it’s a big risky commitment. Esther faced death and still decided to live for God and not herself.
It’s hard to apply this. You are not queen of a country. You don’t have life or death choices before you. We never know when that sort of situation may come up. When I was in 10th grade, there was a school shooting at Columbine High School that I believe is still the deadliest shooting that has occurred in the US. There were two girls who were Christians that were killed and with guns to their head were asked if they believed in God. They could have easily said no to save their lives and didn’t. That was like the go-to example for a message like this when I was in high school. That could happen - how would you respond?
I think a more likely situation is being faced with decisions where we risk leaving our comfort zones. Do you stand up for what’s right when there is risk involved?
Write about a time that you chickened out of doing what was right because you thought it was too risky.
Write about a time where you did what was right even when it was risky.
.
So today is our last day and we are basically at the end of the story. There are still two chapters left though. In the next few days, read over them and see what happens. Basically we are just told about when the day arrives that the Jews are to be killed and how they protect themselves and fight back and then about the festival/feast set up to commemorate that day. But seriously take the time to read them so you can get God’s version of how the story ends instead of mine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
At the second banquet the king again asks Esther what she would like. What does she ask for this time?
Clearly angered by what happened the king asks: who did this?
The king walks out to the garden, maybe to control his anger, maybe to figure out what to do. Either way, what does he see as he walks back into the room?
What does Harbonah tell the king?
Read Esther 8.
What does the king give to Esther and Mordecai?
Esther goes before the king another time and falls at his feet begging. What is she asking him for?
What does King Xerxes do and then say in response?
What does the edict/letter say about the Jews (or give them permission to do)?
So how about this story?? It’s been quite interesting, hasn’t it?
In chapter 4, Mordecai gives Esther this pivotal piece of advice that we didn’t really talk about. In the ACV (Amber Carter Version) Mordecai says, “It’s not about you! You can chose to be the person He uses to save the Jews. But if you don’t they will be rescued by God somehow. Maybe the whole reason you became queen is for this moment.” The chapter ended and we didn’t know what Esther was going to do.
Now we’ve read what happens. We know she does risk her life to go before the king and plead for the salvation of the Jews. That resulted in Haman being destroyed, but not the salvation of the Jews. Esther risks her life a second time in chapter 8 to again plead for the salvation of the Jews. For a second time, the king reaches out the golden scepter and grants her her request.
Esther realizes “It’s not about me!” and does what she can to save her people. She put aside the very real danger she faced to do what she could.
Sometimes we make long-term commitments to live for Christ and not ourselves. Sometimes it’s commitments that require some sacrifice to put others first. But sometimes it’s a big risky commitment. Esther faced death and still decided to live for God and not herself.
It’s hard to apply this. You are not queen of a country. You don’t have life or death choices before you. We never know when that sort of situation may come up. When I was in 10th grade, there was a school shooting at Columbine High School that I believe is still the deadliest shooting that has occurred in the US. There were two girls who were Christians that were killed and with guns to their head were asked if they believed in God. They could have easily said no to save their lives and didn’t. That was like the go-to example for a message like this when I was in high school. That could happen - how would you respond?
I think a more likely situation is being faced with decisions where we risk leaving our comfort zones. Do you stand up for what’s right when there is risk involved?
Write about a time that you chickened out of doing what was right because you thought it was too risky.
Write about a time where you did what was right even when it was risky.
.
So today is our last day and we are basically at the end of the story. There are still two chapters left though. In the next few days, read over them and see what happens. Basically we are just told about when the day arrives that the Jews are to be killed and how they protect themselves and fight back and then about the festival/feast set up to commemorate that day. But seriously take the time to read them so you can get God’s version of how the story ends instead of mine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
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