Overcoming Fears
Esther 4:9-16
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me...."
(PSALM 23:4)
Though the orphaned Jewish girl, Esther, was raised by an important civil servant who sat at the King of Persia's palace gates daily, I doubt she ever dreamed she would live inside those palace walls. Yet through circumstances beyond her control - a royal edict - she became the king's favorite concubine, and subsequently his queen.
When a plot to kill all the Jews was discovered, she risked everything, even her life, to go before the king to request that he save them. Was it chance that placed Esther in the palace and in the favor of the king? Esther knew, though her life was not in her control, it was and always had been in the control of the God of Israel. He had placed her in this high position for just such a time to save her Jewish people. She depended on Him. He overcame her fears, and she and her people were safe.
We can trust this same God of grace who sent our Savior, Jesus. He may put us in incongruous places, but He will also calm our anxieties and our circumstances for His glory and our good.
INSIGHT
"NEVER BE AFRAID TO TRUST AN UNKNOWN FUTURE TO AN ALL-KNOWING GOD." (CORRIE TEN BOOM)
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Nehemiah 3-4
Psalm 32
Mark 11
Esther 4:9-16
New International Version (NIV)
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “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.”
GOING FROM "I CAN'T" TO "I CAN"
How do you become everything that God has called you to be? How is success defined in the Christian race? There is a power for us that comes from outside ourselves.
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