{"id":14558,"date":"2013-09-12T01:00:55","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T06:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=14558"},"modified":"2013-09-11T23:06:33","modified_gmt":"2013-09-12T04:06:33","slug":"esther-chapter-216-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/12\/esther-chapter-216-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther – Chapter 2:16-20"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HolySpirit_Fox_Wk2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Esther asked for little and was given much! The Word doesn\u2019t say that after a period of time King Xerxes decided he \u201cliked\u201d Esther. It says when Esther was taken into his presence, he \u201cloved her above all other women.\u201d And not only that but she also \u201cwon his favor (grace) and approval more than any of the other virgins!\u201d (Esther 2:17). \u00a0To show his affection and approval, the king elevated Esther from a lowly position of a concubine (for that\u2019s what she would have become had he not chosen her; Esther 2:14) to be his queen, and gave her a royal crown so no one would mistake her position in the kingdom.<\/p>\n

Our author, Darlene Schacht, has us reflect on Hannah\u2019s prayer of praise in I Samuel 2:4-8, which comes after years of barrenness and humiliation.\u00a0 As background<\/span> in I Samuel 1: 1-28, we read the story of Hannah and Elkanah.\u00a0 In the eyes of their society, Hannah was \u201ca nobody\u201d and a disgrace to Elkanah since she hadn\u2019t borne him any children. \u00a0But Elkanah didn\u2019t see her that way.\u00a0 No matter what…he loved her for herself.\u00a0 And God loved her and had a plan. \u00a0In His timing, God took a humiliated, barren woman and honored her by blessing her with Samuel who would serve the Lord in the temple all the days of his life.\u00a0 Hannah saw first-hand how God would \u201clift the needy\u201d in His timing, and she raised her praise to Him in prayer.\u00a0 From barrenness to blessed<\/span>.\u00a0 From humiliated to honored<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Esther was one of the Jewish exiles who lived as a common citizen of the community surrounding the palace, even though Mordecai, her cousin, sat at the king\u2019s gate and had responsibilities in the palace (Esther 2:5-7). \u00a0She was lowly with nothing to offer the king\u2014but her submission and trust.\u00a0 The king saw that and more in her, and he lifted her up and blessed her. \u00a0The king presented her before his people and celebrated with a great feast in her honor.\u00a0 From \u201cbarrenness\u201d to<\/span> blessed.\u00a0 From humbleness to honored<\/span>.\u00a0 With grace and honor, he set her among his royalty and crowned her to share in his throne and kingdom!\u00a0 And perhaps, Esther prayed Hannah\u2019s prayer of praise, especially I Samuel 2:8,<\/p>\n

\n

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; He seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From my perspective, I\u2019m like Esther was—just a common citizen with nothing to offer the King of kings, but my submission and trust. \u00a0Ephesians 2:4-7 tells \u201cthe rest of the story\u201d:<\/p>\n

But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions\u2014it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in Heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow, what an honor\u2014what a celebration! And I praise my King!<\/p>\n

Did you notice in Esther 2:18-20, that even in the midst of all the honor and celebration, neither Esther nor Mordecai forgot their relationship and responsibility to each other? \u00a0Even though Esther was now in a pretty secure position, she still respected Mordecai\u2019s wisdom and submitted to him because, I believe, she knew he loved her and had her best interests in mind. \u00a0God has our best interests in mind, too.\u00a0 And, like Mordecai, the Holy Spirit of God is standing close by watching over us, loving and guiding us in all His grace and wisdom.<\/p>\n

One other point from Darlene about this relationship: Esther was an orphan and Mordecai had taken her in and cared for her as his own.\u00a0 As we follow this story we see that Mordecai continued to watch out for her best interest.\u00a0 Darlene points us to James 1:27, \u201cPure and genuine religion (unstained devotion) in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.\u201d\u00a0 Mordecai demonstrated pure religion as he watched over Esther.\u00a0 He \u201cwalked his talk.\u201d\u00a0 In the Book of Ruth, Ruth demonstrated pure religion by caring for her widowed mother-in-law (Ruth 2:17-18). \u00a0God wants us to demonstrate our pure religion by living out our faith. Perhaps we should check ourselves each day with this question, \u201cAm I walking my talk<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Let’s Pray:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Lord,
\nWe thank You, Lord, that when we were \u201ca nobody,\u201d like Esther, we were a \u201csomebody special\u201d to You.\u00a0 We have nothing to offer You except ourselves; and, come to find out, that\u2019s exactly what You are looking for!\u00a0 You are looking for our obedience and courageous submission so that we can come into Your Presence, as Esther came into her king\u2019s presence.\u00a0 You are eager to lift us up \u201cfrom the ash heap\u201d and seat us with You, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.\u00a0 Help us to remember that You have our best interests in mind.\u00a0 You have promised us that Your Holy Spirit will be close to us to guide and comfort us.\u00a0 Please Holy Spirit, help us daily to \u201cwalk our talk\u201d so others will see You even when we don\u2019t speak Your Name.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 Name.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Esther asked for little and was given much! The Word doesn\u2019t say that after a period of time King Xerxes decided he \u201cliked\u201d Esther. It says when Esther was taken into his presence, he \u201cloved her above all other women.\u201d And not only that but she also \u201cwon his favor (grace) and approval more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":14559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[3656,3660,3475,3657,3651,3650,3655,3512,3652,425,506,516,3654,3653,723,3658,3659,1022,1083,1140],"class_list":["post-14558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-blessed","tag-clella-gilbert-fox","tag-darlene-schacht","tag-ephesians-24-7","tag-esther-214","tag-esther-216-20","tag-esther-25-7","tag-esther-the-beauty-of-courageous-submission","tag-favor","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-holy-spirit","tag-honor","tag-i-samuel-11-28","tag-i-samuel-24-8","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-pure-religion","tag-ruth-217-18","tag-submission","tag-trust","tag-womens-online-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/HolySpirit_Fox_Wk2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3MO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14558"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14604,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14558\/revisions\/14604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}