Being like Esther

     It's kind of neat when you see in any given situation how God prepares you for it long before you ever knew you were in it!  You study and talk to people about God's goodness and you feel in the word, but then when you are really in the word, down in the weeds and you look back....it is then you see that you were meant for times such as this. 

     As I listed to Turning Point this morning, Dr. Jeremiah was talking of Haman and his desire to destroy the Jews, but especially a little Jewish man named Mordecai.  Now, Haman's daily desire was to shout of his own good works, his own goodness and to have the people around him to bow down to him as though he were the King.  Then there was this little man who did not bow down to him, tremble at his presence and did not show the respect that Haman felt he should receive.

     Haman was out to destroy these people all because of one man who would not worship him. Haman....an earthly man, walking the same streets as Mordecai should be worshiped??  Really??. So, word was sent to Esther from Mordecai and she found out about the plot against her people.  She at first was worried and sent clothes so him so that he could remove the sack cloths he was wearing and look like everyone else. Mordecai in his faith and unwillingness to back down, refused them.  It seems he knew that this journey he was on was bigger than he was and it was important for him to stand on what he believed!  Esther did as he instructed her and did not tell of her connection to the Jewish people, that she too, was one of them.

     So, Esther was called to stand up too....to seek a conversation with the King even if she risked her life to do so, to save her people from such a cruel, evil man as Haman.  She had favor with the King and he heard the desires of her heart after hearing of Haman's plan because he loved her more than others. The King allowed Haman, unknowingly, to determine what should happen to Mordecai and yet in his selfish spirit, he thought he was "designing" his own destiny of royalty and recognition.  He had no idea that at that same time he would be hanged on the gallows that he had built to hang this Jewish man so high that all the world could see.  Then as he told his wife and sons, they began to realize that this was leading to the end for Haman.

     Esther and Mordecai stayed true to what was right, to what they believed and to saving their people.  God had protected them for taking a stand in the heat of battle.  Do we have what it takes when the battle is hard or do we crumble under the pressure of what might happen or what someone might think?  This is OUR time to take a stand, to stand up for God, for what is right, for OUR people through His word.  We should pray for a heart of compassion like Esther's and for a burden for our people just like Mordecai!  We should be sorrowful for the condition of the world around us and for how we have gotten further from God than ever.  We should be bold and we should be in the word!  

     I can say this about having a heavy heart for "my current situation"....it has made me dig deeper and study more of God's word, to listen more and make sure the message is right and clear, to not be afraid to take a stand and also allow things to happen in God's time.  

     So, my friends trust me in this...things are not right in our world, truths are not being preached, practiced or shared, biblical principles are being broken and not properly followed and we are getting further away from God.  Take a stand, even when it's hard and don't allow yourself to be drawn into your own demise as Haman was!!!  

     Be like Queen Esther!  
           Be like Mordecai and put on your sackcloth!  
                 Claim this day that you will be a leader and be God's instrument to bring truth!  

Esther 8:3-6

3 Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews. 4 And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king, 5 and said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?”