Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
Esther 4:15-16
When I read the Bible, I sometimes wonder about the person behind the words. I wonder if Esther ever felt scared when she proclaimed those words. Did she speak with 100% confidence or did she just say them to pacify her adopted father. The words sound so sure and so confident and yet I still wonder.
There was the law of the land, you do not go to the king without a summons. To do so was punishable by death except he stretched out his scepter to you. He hadn't sent for her in a month...he obviously must have been quite pre-occupied...hmm! Her first response to Mordecai was the law of the land, the facts of the case. Mordecai reminded her that she had a voice. That phrase 'for such a time as this' keeps reverberating in my head these days. What is it that God has assigned me to do 'for such a time as this.'
Esther didn't scream, she didn't shout but she did practice civil disobedience in stepping up to her husband the way she did. I believe in prayer and fasting, now more than ever. However, we can't end there. I believe that the beautiful master plan that played out in the last chapters of Esther was delivered to her as she was praying. It was divinely inspired. I believe that in prayer she found her voice, found the strength to what she had to do. Today we celebrate her but I want to go beyond that to emulate her.
I found it incredibly fascinating that although Esther was the main character, the words she actually spoke were few. It's not in how much you say but what you actually say. Not so much in how much we do but what we actually do. Her voice was to save her people, my voice may be to save my family, my church, my community, my nation. The most important thing is for me to find my voice and use it.
What about you?
Remain blessed.
ZoeB
4 comments:
That was deep...I never realized that she didn't speak much yet her impact was so GREAT...God bless you for this revelation! May we use our voices the way that God intended for us to...
I think that to not have done what she did would have been irresponsible of her. She knew it was the right thing to do because she was the only one who could do it.
I agree that we're responsible for what we do with our voices. This is what I love about Tim Tebow's story. He may not be the best player in the NFL, but he uses every opportunity he has in the spotlight to share the gospel. According to Wikipedia, "in the 2009 BCS Championship Game, he wore John 3:16 on his eye black; the verse was the highest-ranked Google search term over the next 24 hours, generating over 90 million searches."
Our voices may not draw as large an audience as Esther's or Tebow's did, but we are still responsible for how we use them. And God cares as much about the 1 as He does about the many. I pray you (and we all) find your voice (and that we find our voice, not your voice :)) and you (we) are convicted beyond comfort to use it, especially the one for such a time as this!
The Bible admonishes us in the Book of Proverbs to be "slow to speak." There's something about meditating on what we are about to say before we say it. If we take the time to listen to the Holy Spirit before taking any actions, I'm sure the actions we take will be much more beneficial than if we had reacted too fast. Esther listened to instruction...from Mordecai, from the person in charge of the ladies...she stopped to listen first, and that's what paid off at the end. | God, we need your grace to have a listening ear.
@Blessing: Thanks for your comment dear, I didn't realise it either.
@miss.fab: Thanks dear. Its about using your own voice, where you are.
@Jennifer: That's true, the important thing for me was that she followed on what she heard. She could have known and left it at that but she did what she had to do.
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