"Such a time as this" - Book of Esther

How many of us have ever struggled through a hard time in our lives and thought to ourselves, "Where is God? Why isn't he showing Himself to me?" And how many of us have ever had someone tell us during these times that everything thing happens for a reason and that God has a plan for us.

Many many years ago (around 483 B.C.) there was a Cinderella story that took place in Persia about a beautiful, Jewish girl named Esther who went from being an orphan uncertain about her future, to a queen that changed a nation. This book in the Bible is known for its drama, romance and intrigue. So many of us think the Bible is full of stories that are not relative to our modern day lives or let's be honest, that are just boring. This is so far from the truth. I want to break down a quick (as possible) version of the Book of Esther. This book does not mention the name of God at all but you can see God working throughout the book in many ways. I love this story because we see God's sovereignty and control played out so meticulously.

The story begins with King Xerxes having a banquet for all his nobles and officials lasting about six months. That's right, six months! After this banquet ended, he had another banquet for seven days for all the people who were in the palace of Susa. These banquets consisted of lots of wine and displays of the kings wealth and power. King Xerxes in a drunken state, sent for his wife, Queen Vashti, to come wearing her crown in order to display her beauty to the people. Queen Vashti refused and the king extremely angry at her refusal, signs a decree that Vashti is never again to enter his presence. He then put out a search for beautiful young virgins to replace the queen. All these young girls were brought to a harem (a separate building near the kings palace) where they awaited to please the king.

This is where we meet Mordecai. His family had been carried into exile from Jerusalem and when his aunt and uncle died, he adopted Esther, also known as Hadassah. He brought her to the kings palace, to the man in charge of the harem, and he was so pleased with her, that he moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem. Per Mordecai's orders, Esther did not reveal her nationality or background. In those times, before a girl was brought to the king, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics. Whew, that is serious!! When she was finally brought forth to King Xerxes, she won favor with him and he made her his queen. This is the point in the story that we start to see God setting up His plan. He has started planting the seeds.

The next part in the passage shows how Mordecai uncovers a conspiracy to assassinate King Xerxes, and he reports it to Queen Esther who in turn reports it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. The report was investigated and found to be true and the guilty party was hanged. All this was recorded in the books. Now Mordecai just happened to be sitting at the king's gate and overheard this plan. He was at the right place at the right time. Again we see God moving to set up for the next part of the plan.

Then, we meet the villian, Haman. He was given a high seat of honor above all other nobles, and all the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to him as the king had ordered. However, Mordecai refused to bow down to him. Hamans ancestors were ancient enemies of the Jews, and Mordecai would not bow down to this wicked man. What a valuable lesson we can learn from Mordecai. We don't always have to do what everyone else is doing. It is important to be strong in our beliefs ,and we must only worship one God and that is the one true God. Our Haman may come in many different forms...celebrities, money, pride, anything that we put before God in our lives. We must be careful to never let anything take the place of God. Back to the story...Haman was enraged at this behavior, and after learning Mordecai's background, he sought out a way to kill Mordecai and all of his people (the Jews). We can see Haman's downward spiral in this story. His hatred and desire for power and authority consumes him. This is him putting something else as his number one in life and not God. Haman went to the king and tricked him into giving him his signet ring to do as he pleased. Back then, officials used signet rings as personal signatures. It was a raised imprint made of metal, wood or bone and Xerxes name was probably made of silver or gold. By giving this to Haman, Xerxes gave him his personal signature and authority to do whatever he wished. Little did the king know that he had just signed a death warrant for his queen. Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with orders to destroy, kill, annihilate all the Jews - young and old, women and children - on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and to rob them of their goods. We knowt his plan was doomed from the get go - if Haman had been successful in this plot, God's plan to send Jesus Christ (a Jew) to earth would have been ruined. God is the almighty powerful God and no one can interfere with His plan.

When Mordecai learns of Haman's wicked plot, he tears his clothes and goes into mourning, lying in sackcloth and ashes at the king's gate. This is as close as he can get to Esther, as it is unlawful for anyone to enter the palace grounds in sackcloth. As the plan spreads throughout the kingdom, many other Jews also go in to mourning with Mordeaci by fasting, weeping, and wailing. When Esther learns of her cousin, she sends him new clothes to cover him, but Mordecai refuses them, so she sent someone to find out what was troubling him. Mordecai responds, instructing her what she must do, and also sending along a copy of the king's decree. Mordecai states that she is to go before the king and beg him to spare their people. Esther responds that if she goes before the king without being called, she may very well lose her life! And the king had not called for Esther for thirty days. Mordecai warns her that even though she is queen, she will not be safe either. This is where we hear the key verse from this book... "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and our father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a times as this?" It is then that Esther makes her important decision and instructs him to gather all the Jews and to fast for her and that she and her maids will also do this, and she agrees to go to the king. What a powerful part of the story! Esther is risking her life to do what is right. Not many of us would risk our lives for someone or something else. What a courageous, strong woman Esther is. This is also a point where we see God. She instructed that they fast and that she fast as well. With fasting comes prayer to God :)

Esther approaches the king on his throne and he gave her his permission to approach him. He then asked what she requests. She asked him to come with Haman to a banquet that she has prepared for him. The king agrees to this, and at the banquet he asked what it is she requests. She answers that if he will regard her with favor and come with Haman to a banquet the next day, she will then answer his question. Esther teaches us the importance of patience. This is the lesson that I need! Esther is wise beyond her years. She is thinking this through and being very careful with how she handles the situation. She is fasting, praying and letting God take the lead. She is being obedient and patient. While she is patient, we also see that she is taking action. So after this banquet, Haman is seen bragging to his friends about his favor with the king and his wife. He is still not satisfied as long has Mordecai is still sitting at the kings gate, and his friends tell him to have gallows built to have Mordecai hanged on, and then to go to the dinner and have a good time. This is exactly what he did.

That night, the king couldn't sleep so he ordered the book of records to be brought in. He discovers the story of Mordecai uncovering the assassination plot and asked what he had received in honor of this. The attendants tell him nothing. The king summons Haman and asked him what should be done for a man the king delights to honor. Haman, thinking the king is referring to him, answers to have them a royal robe and horse and led through the city streets to be honored. The king then tells him to go and do just that for Mordecai. After this is done, his wife and advisers tell him that if he stands against Mordecai, then he will surely be ruined. At that time, the kings men came and took him away to the banquet with the king and Esther.

At dinner, the king again asked for the request of Esther. She then answers that she would like her people spared from slaughter and annihilation. King Xerxes asked who has dared such a thing and she reveals that Haman was behind the plot. The king went in to a rage and Haman was terrified realizing that his fate had already been decided. As the king went out to the garden, Haman stayed behind begging Queen Esther for his life.The king ordered him to be hung on the gallow that he had made for Mordecai.

After this, Esther revealed her kinship to Mordecai and he was given the kings signet ring and was appointed over Hamans estate. Esther then pleaded for him to put an end to the evil plan. Since no decree sealed with the signet could be reversed, the king signed a new law giving the Jews the right to fight back and protect themselves. The Jews struck down all their enemies, and the Feast of Purim, a Jewish holiday in celebration for God's victory and deliverance of His people, is established.

I tried to summarize the story as much as possible but it was hard, so if you haven't already, read the Book of Esther. Awesome story! You truly can see God working over time to build this story. He is in control at all times and leads and directs the lives of these people. We have circumstances in our lives that can be difficult and we may not see the bigger picture, but we should always know God is in complete control of our lives. He specifically places us in situations for a reason. It may be a social situation, a job, a church, etc. Take the time to slow down and listen to what it is He is trying to tell you. He is never absent and Jeremiah 29:11 promises us that his plans are for us to prosper and not to harm us. Hold on to that promise during trials and know that He too, has put you in the place He wants you to be, for such a time as this.

Have a "Mary" Christmas

My girlfriends and I recently had a Christmas party and a friend asked me to help with a devotional for us to share together. She wanted it to be about women and tie it in to Christmas, etc. So I decided use a lesson from a passage about Mary and Martha as part of the devotional. Read below for the notes and passage I used from the Bible - Luke 10:38-42:

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

First off, it is important to know a little about whom Mary and Martha were. 

·      They were sisters (we are not told specifically if they are blood sisters or sisters in Christ, but we do know it states they are sisters.

·      Lots of people get confused about different Mary’s – this Mary is known as Mary of Bethany.

·      They live in Bethany – outside of Jerusalem.

·      They had a brother named Lazarus who was raised from the dead by Jesus in a separate story in the Bible.

·      They were followers of Christ and loved and worshipped Jesus as their savior. They were thought to be very comfortable and close friends with Jesus. They are seen in other passages of the Bible, and we can tell by the way they spoke to one another that they were friends.

These two sisters were polar opposites and had very different spiritual gifts. Martha was a server and very practical, while Mary was called to personal service and very spiritual.  Martha is thought to be the older sister and to have been the leader of the house. She loved Jesus, and in this passage she was the one to invite Jesus and his followers in to the home to honor him. Mary is seen in the passage sitting at Jesus’ feet, which is such a place of honor. We think of sitting beside Jesus as a place of honor – imagine being at his feet. This shows Mary was completely humbled and devoted to Jesus and hanging on to his every word. Back in those days, it was very unusual to see a woman studying and listening to the men. Martha was in the kitchen serving the men and preparing their meal, which would be the norm.  So I think it is important to note that Mary was neglecting her normal duties. Mary knew listening to Jesus was more important than anything at that moment, and in the verse we are told, he was not going to take that away from her

When I read this verse, it is not so different from our modern day dinners and holiday times. Who doesn’t usually have a dinner or family gathering where one sibling or family member seems to be doing all the work, while the others are sitting around goofing off? I can imagine that Martha was probably banging pots and pans in the kitchen mad that her younger sister was not helping or contributing. She may have let out a few sighs to try to get her attention and when this failed, she became very frustrated and angry. She went to Jesus and demanded that he tell her sister to help her. Jesus tells her that Mary has made the right choice by choosing to spend her time with him, and it will not be taken from her. This is one example of how I think they were close friends. Could you imagine going to Jesus and demanding something from him? I would only be comfortable doing that to someone I was a close friend with. I love how he uses the word choice in there too. You do not see Jesus tell Martha that she needs to stop what she was doing, but I do think he is trying to stress the importance of priorities to her.  We all have choices and priorities in our lives. Mary did not want to miss out on a moment of Jesus’ teachings and her choice and priority were the right one for her. I think this is a great lesson for us to realize that God has made us all different. He has given us all talents and spiritual gifts. Some are servers and some are personal connectors. He gives us these amazing examples in the Bible to teach us these lessons. We know God does not make mistakes. Psalm 139 (one of my favorites) says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We should all be proud of our gifts and how we are different from each other. There is nothing wrong with Mary wanting to be the server. The church and Bible also calls us to serve others. However, it is important to not let our serving become self-serving.

We can all have serve the same purpose but approach it differently. Mary and Martha both wanted to worship Jesus but their styles of doing it were very different. Martha got so distracted in her work of trying to serve that she didn’t see the bigger picture. Imagine how stressed we can be to host a dinner for a group of friends. Back then, there were no phones, so this dinner was probably not planned and imagine how you would feel preparing a meal for Jesus and his followers with no prep!! These were Jesus’ final days and when her and Mary look back which would they remember – the meal or the opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn and listen to him? This is why Jesus stated there was only one thing of importance and that was to be with him. . We are given these two polar opposite examples of women – both spirits are important. We should challenge ourselves to blend the better of the two together.

It is so easy to get distracted in the world that we miss out on the small moments that really matter. Our lives become such a routine – go to work, take care of our families, dinner, and sleep. Time is going by in the blink of an eye. It is so important to make sure we are actually soaking it all in. The holidays can be the time we are the guiltiest. We find ourselves running around hectic, planning, gift shopping and become so frustrated. It is important to remember what the season is about and that is the birth of sweet Jesus. It is so easy to get caught up in the to do lists and they desire to have everything perfect for our loved ones. Use Mary and Martha this Christmas season to remind us stay focused on Jesus, our families, our friends and the time we spend with them.  And use this lesson throughout the year.

Great lesson is Martha was worried while Mary was worshipping and Martha was losing it while Mary was listening

Have a “Mary” Christmas!!!