"Also he gave him the copy of the writing of
the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto
Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go
in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request
before him for her people." - Esther 4:8
I love Chapter 4, this is the prelude to the turning point of the book of Esther, basically, it's when it starts to get really exciting. This chapter can be broken into three sections:
Mordecai's Request
Mordecai's Request
Esther's Response
Esther's ResolveWe'll talk about the first in this post.
Sometimes family asks a lot of us. After all, sometimes we ask a lot of them. But, I don't think anyone could imagine the measure of the task that Mordecai gave to Esther.
He was asking her to risk her life for the life of her people. He knew that though she felt protected in her palace she would not be immune to the attack upon the Jews, and, he, no doubt, was concerned for her life, as well.
We're often faced with requests from others that we feel are over taxing, that will take more than we can give. What is our motivation for accepting or declining these? I won't get to far ahead, but we all know that she'll go through with it. Esther's motivation was a devotion to her Lord.
Who among us have not felt stretched beyond capacity? I'm very familiar with this feeling myself! Who hasn't been asked to execute a task to which they felt unequal? We too are capable of fulfilling them when we rely on the Lord and entrust Him with our future.
And, when we feel annoyed with all those extra requests let us remember:
"And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take
away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.And
whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give
to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn
not thou away." - Matthew 5:41
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