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 Devotional - November 8, 2006
God has truly blessed our ministry like never before as
of late, and as we reach new levels of ministry, the
challenges and temptations that go along with these new
levels grow as well. As I sat on the church pew waiting
for one of the services to begin recently, I opened my
Bible with the intention of reading whatever I
opened to. My eyes fell to Esther 2:15. The story of
Esther is familiar to all of us, but something about
this verse caught my attention. Esther was a Jew that
was to be in a beauty pageant of sorts to determine who
would be the next queen for King Ahasuerus, a non-Jew.
She was brought to the palace along with many other
women to prepare for 1 year for the time they would be
presented to the King. Now, in modern terms, this
"preparing" would be the maximum spa treatment:
manicures, pedicures, mud baths, facial peels,
deep-conditioning treatments, nasty-tasting smoothies
jam-packed with healthy stuff and, well, you get the
picture. These women could have anything they desired
that they thought would help them catch the King's eye.
Now this brings me to verse 15. When it was Esther's
turn, "...she required nothing but
what...the...chamberlain...appointed. And Esther
obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked
upon her." Wow! That verse leaped off that page
and landed right in my heart! Now, you may be wondering
what all the excitement is about, so let me explain.
Think about it. Esther had confidence in the fact that
God had a plan for her life that would be fulfilled with
or without man's wisdom or planning. She wasn't sitting
around biting her fingernails thinking, "Oh, dear!
Should I wear blue eye shadow or brown? I wonder if the
King would like that red dress or the green one? Gold
jewelry or silver? Load up with perfume or don't wear
any?" No. Esther simply trusted in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob to promote her to the place He intended
and that's exactly what He did! She became queen and
you can move over to 4:14 and see where her uncle says
that she was brought to the palace for a purpose, and
that was to save her people, the Jews. Well, of course
that's what happened! God had a plan, he placed favor
on Esther's life, and as a result, she was able to save
an entire nation and change the course of history! The
cool part is that God has a plan for every
human being on earth. He has a plan for your life and
mine. He has a plan for our ministry. And what we have
to do to reach the destiny that God has for us as
children of the King (worry-free, I might add) is walk
according to His Word, which is His will. I
Thessalonians 5:24 says, "Faithful is he who called you,
who also will do it." Rest in the fact that the One who
called you will do the work as you walk in His ways.
Walk forward in favor, my friend. The God who created
the universe is on your side!
Until next time, may God richly bless you as you
continue to serve Him! Remember, the best is yet to
come!
In Christ,
Sonya
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