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Esther
Posted : 9 Oct, 2012 02:15 PM
Esther
To me Esther (along with Ruth) is one of the most amazing women in the Bible. When we read the whole Book of Esther we see a woman with a right heart attitude, we see a woman with grace, we see a woman with purity of heart and spirit, we see humility and we see wisdom, but most of all, we see great courage! We see a woman taken from everything familiar to her and into a totally new life, a
new world even. Would we be prepared to make this great a change in our lives, if that means God taking us away from all we have ever known, all that has previously been familiar to us? Would we be prepared to be taken that far out of our comfort zones?
When we look at women like Esther and then look at the women of today, sadly, we see very few, if any of these qualities. Is this their fault, their own doing? No! Absolutely not, it is the fault of us older more mature women. You see ladies, the young women of our day have nothing to compare themselves with, and they have no GODLY role models to follow. If we take a look around us, we see young women dressed in clothing that leaves little to the imagination and bares almost all. Yet, again if we look around us, the older women are not much better, yes the elderly women are, but the mothers of this generation are not, we are not being examples to our daughters (the teens and young twenties of this generation) of how to dress, how to act, how to speak, how to care for our homes and our husbands.
However, returning to Esther, many of the godly characteristics that we can find throughout the bible we see bundled up in one woman, in the woman Esther.
Lets look at her character, she was clearly submitted to her Uncle Mordecai (the father figure in her life) this is clear by the way she followed his instructions and obeyed him. She gained favour where ever she was, even in the house of the women during the twelve months of purification she gained favour with the eunuch who was in charge of that house, it clearly shows that there was some purity and innocence in her character that drew people to her, and persuaded them to show her great favour.
We see so much wisdom in Esther as well; look at the account of how she handled the situation with Haman tricking King Ahaseurus into totally annihilating the Jewish people who were in the land. Esther used great wisdom, but she also used great courage in going into the King in the first place.
However, all of that would have mattered little had she not been submitted to God, had she not known of God�s hand in her life. Notice the first thing she does is request that Mordecai gathers the Jewish people together to fast and pray for what she is about to do. Yes, Esther knew that it was only by having favour with God that she would succeed in what she was about to do, Esther fully realised that it was God Who would grant her favour with King Ahaseurus when she went into him unbidden. Esther took her life in her hands by going into the King without being summoned and the possible consequence for doing this was death. Yet she also trusted God as she boldly said to Mordecai �if I perish, I perish�. Esther knew the consequences and was willing to take the risk. I once heard it said �courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than your fear�, I�m not certain who said this, but this must be a fairly accurate description of how Esther felt, she would have approached the king with great fear, reverence and trepidation. What a relief she must have felt when he held out the golden sceptre which meant he accepted her being there.
We can probably pretty accurately assume that many of the women around Esther would have looked to her for wisdom, guidance and counsel, many more were probably in awe of her bravery and courage in going in to the king unbidden.
Esther is remarkable in that she is that rare gift described in Proverbs 31, in that she was clearly clothed in strength and honour, that inner peace, godly wisdom and strength that can only be found in a woman whose heart is fixed on God.
Let us all strive to be women that the young ladies of today can look to for advice, wisdom and godly counsel, but this starts at the feet of Jesus, letting Him mould us, guide us and change us from deep within our hearts. We can be strong, valiant women of God without being �manly� and without overthrowing the entire male population. There is a beauty about a woman who is quietly, humbly and meekly submitted to her husband and to those over her in the Lord and it is this beauty that will, just like in Esther�s case draw people to us that we may in turn point them to the Lord. It is this beauty, this inner serenity and grace, this inner strength in our Lord God that will give us favour with those around us as they see us transformed into precious gifts which are of great price in the sight of God.
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