The Encourager

Esther 4: 11-14

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?”

Esther was a reluctant queen.  She was in a position to help the Jews who were being persecuted and killed, but she was afraid for her life if she approached the king.  Mordecai, her uncle, reminded her that it was for just such a time that she was queen.  

Esther was reluctant to act.  But God knew that she was the perfect person for the task.  So, he worked through Mordecai in order to get Esther to take the heroic action that was required.

We all have people in our lives that we can point to and say, “Without that person things would not have turned out the way that they did.”  Looking back, we can see the hand of God in our lives working through those people.  These are people who encouraged us when we needed a kind word; people who came by when we were hurting; people who visited us when we were sick; and people who said, “You can do it” when we were scared and doubting ourselves.

All of us, at one time in our lives, needed a Mordecai.  Let us now be the Mordecai that someone else needs.

May the love of Christ be with you

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

#Encourage one another #Caring for each other #Esther and Mordecai