[Please join me in praying for children and families on Thursdays this year.]
As I write this I am studying Esther’s story. There are many interesting facets to the story, but one that caught my attention is the importance of her identity and community as a Jewish woman. As you remember, her relative Mordecai had raised her and, evidently, taught her the Jewish spiritual heritage. Even after she went to live in King Xerxes’ palace as Queen, Esther remembered who she was as God’s child and as a member of the Jewish family. When the evil Haman convinced Xerxes to sign an order killing off the Jewish people, Mordecai urged her to take action. He told her:
“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-13 NIV)
Esther understood the grave circumstances the Jews were in and realized that she was near the King “for such a time as this” – to save her people. She then called all the Jews in the city and all her attendants to fast and pray for three days before she made the dangerous trek into the king’s company to ask for mercy for the Jews. Pause here for a moment and ask yourself: if I were in her place, would my first thought be “I should fast and pray for this situation“? I may be inferring a bit, but it seems that Mordecai (and probably the Jewish community in their city) had taught her not only her identity as a Jewish woman, but also the value of spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer. When faced with a Really Big Challenge, she knew what spiritual tools she had – and who to turn to – for help.
Armed with Mordecai’s and the community’s teachings and support and with her own faith, she could summon the courage to face King Xerxes with her unusual request. Mordecai had taught her well. May we also be teaching the next generations well.
God of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Forever,
Thank you for the men and women who have taught us and passed down the Gospel message in our lives. Thank you for the people who have taught us spiritual disciplines and have helped us learn what it means to walk through life with you. You are our refuge and strength and so we do not fear when our circumstances seem shaky. Thank you for your ever-present help in time of trouble and for the community of faith that stands around us. Give us courage and strength to raise our physical and spiritual children with loving discipline, instruction, and counsel and to help them develop into the strong believers you want them to be. Teach us that we are bound together by your love into a faith community, anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, and guided by Holy Spirit. We pray in Christ’s name, Amen.
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46: 1-3 NIV)
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4 NASB)
“Fathers, don’t exasperate your children, but raise them up with loving discipline and counsel that brings the revelation of our Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4 TPT)