Focus Passage: Esther
Bombarded with the problems of the world each night on the news and problems of people we know, we can easily feel overwhelmed. There is an earthquake or snowstorm burying a city. A family is hurt in a car accident. A friend has just come down with cancer. Our expectation is that others will take care of it. Let the government send them food. Let the family take care of the accident victim or the cancer patient. We just can’t deal with all the pain. But someone needs to help. We would want help if it was our family member with cancer or our home hit by a flood. We may not be able to help everyone, but we need to help someone.
A. Opportunity – Esther becomes queen Esther 2:17 Having deposed his wife and lost an important battle, the lusty king Xerxes starts looking for women for his harem. Esther was taken in this sweep of the countryside, but something happened. The king was attracted to her and so he made her queen and not just another one night stand. God watched out for her and turned disaster into opportunity. She was now in a position to help others. She just didn’t know what God would call her to do.
B. Need – The Jews need someone to speak up Esther 4:8 It doesn’t take long for trouble to arise. An evil man named Haman convinces the king to sign a decree that will begin a slaughter of the Jews not seen again until the days of Hitler. Esther is encouraged to speak to the king to protect her people, but she knows that she will be putting her life on the line. To speak to the king when you are not spoken to can mean death and so she asks everyone to pray so the Lord will protect her and help her.
C. Courage – I am a Jew Esther 7:3 Esther needed a favor from the king. He was the only one who could save her people. What was hard was that she needed to ask the favor in front of the man who wanted all the Jews to die. It took courage to stand up and tell the king that she was a Jew. It required that she trust the Lord to make things work. She put herself on the line for her people. If she was found out, she was going to die anyway.
D. Answer – Protection for the Jews Esther 8:11 Oddly God is never mentioned in the book of Esther, but you can see God’s hand throughout the book. Evil Haman is disgraced and hanged. Esther is rewarded for her courage as the King is moved to help the Jews. Mordecai is even made Prime minister in Haman’s place. In the end, the Jews turn on their enemies at the moment that the enemies were supposed to destroy them. Ready for battle, they are able to protect themselves and keep the slaughter from happening.
If there is anything that we can learn from Esther, it is that when we see a neighbor who is struggling that it is our problem. It may be a need in our church or school. It can be a problem with a close friend or family member. We need to help and we need to find others who can help us help this person. The important thing is to know that we are not alone. God will work through us. He put us in a place where we have the opportunity to help and He will provide the resources that we need to do the task because God cares and God wants that person helped. We need to have courage, not because we are a fool, but because we know and believe that God is standing at our side helping in ways that we cannot even see. We go forward trusting that God will help us to help other people. We may not be able to help everyone, but we need to help someone.
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