Back in 2019, God laid on my heart to write a book. This was never my plan. At the time, I had no intentions to do such a task like that. We all know that God puts these things on our hearts for a reason. So during my final year of my undergraduate studies, I wrote the book “Rise Up: The Journey from Restrained to Released.” After I had that moment with the Lord, He showed me all the young people mentioned in the Bible and showed me that God can use people who are in their youth to do things for the Kingdom of God. One of the people who didn’t let their youth dictate their call was a young woman named Esther.
In today’s passage, King Xerxes has made a decree that would help the Jews who were faced with persecution from his right hand man, Haman. After his death, the king has made a decree to spare the lives of Esther’s people. It was because of Esther that the Jewish people are saved from persecution. Esther had the courage to save her people. Even though it took her three different attempts to talk to the king, but during the first two times, she clammed up and chickened out. You know the saying: third time’s the charm. Once she did, the king eliminated the problem and brought a sense of restoration.
Esther 8:1-17 (NLT Translation)
1 On that same day King Xerxes gave the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought before the king, for Esther had told the king how they were related. 2 The king took off his signet ring—which he had taken back from Haman—and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s property.
3 Then Esther went again before the king, falling down at his feet and begging him with tears to stop the evil plot devised by Haman the Agagite against the Jews. 4 Again the king held out the gold scepter to Esther. So she rose and stood before him.
5 Esther said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if he thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces should be destroyed. 6 For how can I endure to see my people and my family slaughtered and destroyed?”
7 Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews. 8 Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever has already been written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring can never be revoked.”
9 So on June 25[a] the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated. It was sent to the Jews and to the highest officers, the governors, and the nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.[b] The decree was written in the scripts and languages of all the peoples of the empire, including that of the Jews.10 The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.
11 The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city authority to unite to defend their lives. They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies. 12 The day chosen for this event throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was March 7 of the next year.[c]
13 A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready to take revenge on their enemies on the appointed day. 14 So urged on by the king’s command, the messengers rode out swiftly on fast horses bred for the king’s service. The same decree was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa.
15 Then Mordecai left the king’s presence, wearing the royal robe of blue and white, the great crown of gold, and an outer cloak of fine linen and purple. And the people of Susa celebrated the new decree. 16 The Jews were filled with joy and gladness and were honored everywhere. 17 In every province and city, wherever the king’s decree arrived, the Jews rejoiced and had a great celebration and declared a public festival and holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews themselves, for they feared what the Jews might do to them.
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for Esther. I thank You for giving her the courage to talk to the king about what Haman was trying to do behind his back. Because of Esther, her people were saved. Help us to have the same courage that Esther showed. Remind us that no matter what temperature this world is at, we cannot sweat and lose ground. Help us to stay focused on You because only You can show us the direction for us.
In Jesus name, amen