Orphan To Queen

Esther 2:7-8 -  Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.  When the king's order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem.

 

An orphan girl…taken in by a cousin…favored by God to be lovely in form and features…so much that she captures the king’s heart when it is her turn to be taken to the king’s bedroom. He is so taken with Esther that she is made queen…elevated above the common concubines in the harem. The king loved her more than any other in his harem.

 

Esther’s beauty began deep down in her heart…that must have ached from all she had been through. Losing both her parents…raised by an uncle….shipped off to be part of a huge harem… somehow Esther managed to stay positive and drew favor from everyone she met….her uncle Mordecai…the eunuch Hegai…and the king.  Perhaps it was Esther Paul was inspired by …when he wrote Galatians 6:9… “ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

 

I am reminded often that God uses small events...linked together in a chain that seems to have no commonalities….to weld together a perfect end result.  Like a huge food web...the chain begins to overlap the lives of others till God has put together the perfect plan for our life…in a most unpredictable way.  We simply will never see the end of this perfect plan for our lives if we give up after the first event doesn’t come down the way our human brain thought it should.  We will never move forward into the next overlapping event…if we get stuck in the pain of the first.

 

I can’t help but think of my favorite verse…Jeremiah 29:11….and how it asks us to keep faith in the big picture that only God sees to the very end.  Only God knows the plans he has for us…and he promises only that the end result is to prosper us.  Esther held on to that promise …and knew in her heart that her  future was controlled by a loving God…who had a bigger plan than what her broken heart could conceive at the time. The knowledge that God would never harm her….gave her strength to endure all that life threw her way.

 

Father…give me the mind-set of Esther.  Make me strong….with a knowledge of you so firmly planted in my heart that I know ...that I know…that I know…somewhere in my future you have plans to prosper me. Show me how to be positive and withstand the hurts that come as the bigger picture of my life unfolds.  Help me to be used…like Esther…to help others.  Help me to be positive…ever moving forward to the next part of your plan.   Amen.