Do you ever feel like the odds are stacked against you?
This week, we’re drawing lessons from the Book of Esther. Yesterday, we already saw that Eshter’s life wasn’t as glamorous or fairytale-like as it may have appeared from the outside.Let’s break it down and look at all the things Esther had to overcome.
1.She was exiled
Esther’s family had been taken captive in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon (Esther 2:5-6). Being exiled means being forced to leave everything behind and taken against your will to an unknown foreign country, where you live like an outcast and have to start all over again.
2.She was orphaned
According to Scripture, Esther had no parents. She had lost both her father and her mother and was raised by her older cousin, Mordecai (Esther 2:7).
3.She was kidnapped.
In pursuit of a new queen, the Persian king, Xerxes, gathered all the most beautiful virgins in his kingdom, including Esther, so he could sleep with them one by one and take his pick (Esther 2:1-4). From the language of the text and our knowledge of the culture, we can safely assume Esther didn’t have much say in the matter. She was young, she was pretty, and she was taken.
4.She was raped.
This part comes as a shocker to people, but the Scriptures are pretty clear about what happened. The virgins, who were likely in their early teens, were escorted one by one to the king’s bedroom. The next morning, they didn’t return to the other virgins, but instead were added to the harem of the king’s other concubines (Esther 2:14).
God chose a woman who had everything taken from her—her parents, her freedom, her virginity—and put her in a position of power. He used someone who, due to gender, culture, and circumstance, was invisible and uninfluential and made her the pivotal, formidable heroine.
If God could use Esther, He can definitely use you and me!
