God's Providence

Still looking at those in God's Word and other giants of the faith who stood still and believed God during difficult circumstances.

I mentioned that my next post would look at Esther, the Jewish girl who became the queen of Persia by the providence of God, for "Such A Time As This".

Are you familiar with the story of Esther?

Esther was an orphan...
.....raised by her cousin Mordecai
.......a member of a despised minority
.........an exiled captive

When King Ahasuerus sent word to assemble all the beautiful young virgins in the provinces, Esther was among them. 
Under the care of the King's eunuch, Esther gained favor with him and her beauty treatments were accelerated and  she was transferred to the harem's best quarters.

Esther won approval in the sight of everyone who saw her, including King Ahasuerus.  The bible says the king loved Esther more than all the other women. He crowned her his queen.

I don't know about you but a harem does NOT sound like a happy place to be.

Maybe for a moment beauty treatments lavished on you by many "ladies in waiting" sounds appealing...."me" moments the latest magazines are touting.  Don't be taken in my friend.  All of these treatments were to get the virgins "ready" to be sampled by the king.  Sounds like bondage to me.

Fast forward and we see that the purpose for this life change was to position Esther in a place of prominence in the king's heart in order to bring deliverance to the Jewish people.

Check out the entire story of God's providence for yourself -

Esther 1; Esther 2; Esther 3; Esther 4; Esther 5; Esther 6; Esther 7; Esther 8; Esther 9; Esther 10 - New American Standard - NAS - Online Bible Study

A few lessons I have learned from Esther:

Beauty is more than what one can see with the eyes.

When God is first in our hearts we can resist the world's temptations.

A palace can be a prison if man rules the kingdom.

A place of confinement can be tranformed into the ultimate prayer closet.

God's purposes will prevail.

Lord, I lift my friends and myself to you today for courage, joy, and peace as we walk this path of life with you remembering that You are the reason I sing.

Love you friends,
Judy