Day 17 - ESTHER (The Greatest Paradox in History)
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!" (Esther 4:15-16)
Nothing I could write would do justice to tell the one of the greatest story known to mankind - the story of Queen Esther and her people, the Jews. Anyone who desires to know why I call it the greatest paradox in history must read the entire book which would take no more than a several minutes. Throughout history, many have tried to annihilate the Jewish race from this planet including most recently, the Nazis, and now, the Arab nations. Around the time of the Jewish captivity in Babylon, one man by the name of Haman, who was second to the king, also tried to blot out the Jewish people from earth. Another man, Mordecai, the uncle of Esther who raised her from childhood, dared to stand up against Haman. This greatly infuriated Haman, to say the least, and he had a gallows built in order to hang Mordecai. The story ends with Haman being the one to hang on the gallows he built and Mordecai taking his place in the kingdom as second to the king.
Although the paradox I briefly described above is remarkable, the thing I would like to focus on for this devotional is the passage quoted above. Esther made the difficult decision to approach the king to request for the lives of the Jews at the risk of her life for “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live.” (Esther 4:11) God honored Esther’s courage and He moved the king’s heart to grant Esther’s request.
The story of Esther is a powerful example of how evil could never triumph over God’s plan and that God uses men and women who put their trust in Him despite overwhelming danger and odds. O how we need more men and women like Mordecai and Esther today! Would you and I have the faith and courage to step up to this need of our day?
No comments:
Post a Comment