January 27, 2011

Esther 4
Who and what does God use to glorify His own name? In Esther 1 we saw that He uses even the immorality of man to accomplish His plan. In Esther 2 we saw that He uses our own helplessness—when we are in trouble. In Esther 3 we learned that He is working even in the midst of our own perplexities. What about Esther 4? He desires most to use obedient people. He designs and places us in positions where we must trust Him. In that position He asks that we put everything on the line. He asks that we obey. What would you be willing to do for Him? Oh it is easy to say that I would die physically for Him. Most of us will really never have to make that kind of choice. But he always asks us to die to our own desires.
It would have been easier for Esther to just stay in the Harem and never say anything to the king. After all, would anyone really try to kill the queen? To enter the king’s presence without being bid to come could result in her own execution. It would be easier to ignore the plight of her people and do nothing. But as Mordecai told her, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Her response was one of obedience and acceptance of whatever would be the outcome. She simply put it, “If I perish, I perish.” Hmm. . . Am I so enthralled with God displaying His glory in me that I can say in any situation, “I will obey God, no matter what the result. If I perish, I perish.” I think the glory of God is so great that if I really grasped it, I would emphatically obey! When I disobey, it only proves that I am not clearly seeing the glory of God. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john