Dave Willis explores Esther 4:14 and the phrase "for such a time as this." Esther was an orphaned Jewish girl who became queen and saved her people. The hosts connect her courage to marriage and faith, urging listeners to pray for favor, choose courage over fear, and trust God when crisis hits.
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Welcome to Summer of Scripture on the Naked marriage podcast. For 66 days in a row, we are releasing a daily devotional episode for your marriage. And over these 66 days, we're going to pull out one scripture from each of the 66 books of the Bible and talk about how it applies to your marriage. So if you listen to every single one of these episodes, you're going to have a comprehensive understanding of God's plan for your marriage. We encourage you to listen to everyone. Let's dive into today's scripture. Welcome to day 17 of Summer of Scripture. We're in the book of Esther. Esther is one of the most fascinating people in the entire Bible to me. I mean, just an awesome young lady who really gets misunderstood. And I think her story gets simplified down to making her just kind of like Bible Barbie, as if she's just this beauty queen that is just in veggietale shows is this pretty girl that was at the right place at the right time. And there's so much more to her story. I mean, really, she was essentially kind of a human trafficking victim.
Yes, she was.
I mean, a sex slave to the king. The so called beauty contest she won was not a voluntary contest. So she was put in this position in a foreign land. She was the young Jewish girl, orphaned, raised by her older cousin Mordecai in this foreign kingdom under King Xerxes. And God put her in this position. Eventually, through supernatural circumstances, she becomes queen. And then the Jewish people are about to be annihilated through kind of an early version of the Holocaust. And she uses her influence to help save her people. But there was a moment of doubt where she thought, well, I don't want to get involved and get killed. And her adopted father Mordecai said these famous words. Today's passage is Esther 4:14. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. And who knows if perhaps you were not made queen for such a time as this. Those words for such a time as this. Some of the most familiar words in the Bible for such a time as this. God has put you right where you are for such a time as this.
And I love how he's saying, like, God's gonna establish his plans regardless of whether or not you agree to do, you know, to fulfill the opportunity he's given you. But then you won't be part of this. And essentially, you know, like you said, you and your people will die. So I mean, that's a lot. It's heavy. Don't you feel like the weight of that? Yeah, I mean, it's heavy. It's so heavy. And I don't know if you've seen One Night. Is it One Night with the King?
Yeah, One Night with the king of the story.
Xerxes has the most impressive eyeliner I've ever seen on a man. I just wanna say that. Why? I guess they really did. Like, in every movie they portray these kings during this time wearing eyeliner. It must have been a thing. But anyway, so Captain Jack was onto something. So that's neither here nor there. But I just want to say, like, I think about these scenes in One Night with the King, which I feel like. Does it kind of really. I remember this scene where it reveals, you know, the scripture and there is so much weight with it. But I just. I love how Esther, you know, really probably very scared and very uneasy and maybe even full of doubt, fulfills the opportunity that God has set before her. A scary opportunity standing up for her people when, I mean, she could be killed right on the spot.
Right.
Because queens couldn't just approach, they had to be called on by the king.
Yeah, it was just a really messed up system for them. The first queen had been, you know, fired just for agreeing with the king. And so even though he had a whole harem, he wanted another queen and went and found Esther. But still, she didn't have rights, even as a wife. I mean, unless she was called upon, she could be killed for showing up in the king's presence unannounced. So she fasted and prayed and called others to join her in that for favor with the king. This is a theme we've seen in a lot of the passages from Nehemiah last week, all the way back, that God wants you to pray for favor for those who have influence in your life. And her king, really, he was a husband kind of only by name. He did not really love her and adore her as a husband should. But God did give her favor with the king.
Yes.
And she used her position as the queen to ultimately bring about to the king's eyes the fact that this great injustice was about to be carried out and her people were going to be annihilated. And by standing in courage, she could have been killed herself easily. But she was like, you know what? I'd rather die trying than sit back and watch my people killed from the comfort of these walls, knowing she could have done something. Knowing she could have done something. And so her courage literally saved her people. And they still. In Israel, they still celebrate today the festival of Purim, which is one of their biggest parties all year. And it's all a celebration of what Queen Esther did to save the nation of Israel.
I know she had such boldness, and I think that what I think about when I hear this story is God prepar. Cause, you know, here she's praying for favor with the king, like, don't let him do what he legally is allowed to do with me as a woman and as a queen, calling on him before he going to him, before he called on me. But, you know, it's God preparing the way. And I think that how we can relate to this today is we still need to pray those prayers of God, prepare the way before me. I know that this isn't an easy way, but prepare the way before us. You know, before you go into that doctor's appointment where you're a nervous wreck because you're going to get these test results. God, prepare the way, you know, and regardless of what. What those results say, just give us favor. And I, you know, I remember recently we had a close family member of ours who had dealt with just so many health issues, and all of a sudden, like, out of nowhere, he went to go get a checkup, and he received news where they're like, oh, you have another tumor, and it's bigger than your last tumor where you had to lose your kidney. So, you know, I don't know what else to tell you, but we're gonna have to do more research. So, you know, in this month of waiting, just be praying, you know, because we don't. It's not looking good, basically. And I remember in that time, we all, as a family came together and we said, okay, that's what the nurse said. But we're gonna pray that by some way, God's gonna prepare the way and he's gonna give us favor in this. And we just pray, Lord, if it means full healing, great. If it means things look better and this could be removable and save the kidney, great. Like, we were just really praying through this. Do you remember this time? But it was such a grueling time of waiting. I mean, grueling, you know, even more so than for the person who's dealing with these health issues. And so the day came after a month of waiting and praying, and I even think there was some fasting for some family members fasted over this. But I remember them calling us with the results and saying, well, the doctor came in and said, this isn't Even a tumor at all. This is just a small cyst. And actually it's not even cancerous. There's nothing wrong. Like, and we all. It truly was a miraculous report. And I know, you know, some of you watching and listening might be like, well, that's great that you got good news. I mean, what about when we get the bad news? I will tell you this. I'm glad that it was in our beloved family members favor. But I will tell you just the process of praying that God would prepare the way, coming together as a family and just praying through that, it made us stronger, that I knew that whatever results our beloved family member got, we were going to be okay.
We've gone through those same processes and had bad news.
Yes, we have.
And yet God is still faithful.
Yes.
And he does bring peace even in the midst of whatever that report is. Because ultimately we're all going to die.
Eventually of something, of something.
But the promise is that God's going to give us peace in this life, purpose to the pain we face. And ultimately an eternity where there's complete and total healing and restoration and we hold tight to that. But in the moments, the defining moments in this life when you're tempted to be overcome by fear, we need to do what Esther did and instead let faith overcome our fear and step into that moment of destiny. And I'm just praying that when those moments come for us, that we will have the courage that she had, that we'll pray and prepare and step into that moment with faith and allow God to do the rest. And whatever moment you're facing right now in your marriage and your life, do the same and know that God is with you and that he is for you.
That's right. Well, we can't wait for tomorrow, guys. What's our book tomorrow, sweetie?
Job, Job, Job. And that's a good one. If you ever had any hardship, you've ever had any hard times. Job, what scholars believe is the oldest book in the Bible, Genesis comes first, kind of in terms of the numbers. But Job, they believe, was written down first. And it's a powerful story. There's so much we can learn from the book of Job. So tune in tomorrow for day 18.
