The Queen

No discussion of Esther is complete without talking about the queen herself. There are two queens in the story, and although we could learn a lot from Vashti, the queen I want to talk about today is Esther herself. 

The story tells us that she risked her very life to go into the presence of the king when he hadn't asked for her, that he was known to dismiss or even kill those who violated his personal space in this way. But I don't think she gets enough credit for this moment. I don't think we draw enough inspiration from this one decision. 

Because let's face it - most of us never face actual death just for asking someone a question. 

But think about the trajectory of Esther's life. She was an orphan, by the standards of the day. We don't know what happened to her father; we don't know where her mother is. We know that she has been raised by her uncle, her kinsman-redeemer, and she has grown up in a society that was patriarchal in nature. So she was a woman who would have a tendency to just be quiet and do what was expected of her and not push the boundaries, especially since she was already on her second family - she couldn't afford to be a burden to Mordecai. She might fear that he would abandon her and leave her an orphan again. 

And, in fact, throughout her story, we see her deferring to everyone. We are told that she did whatever Mordecai told her to do. She followed his wisdom without question. When she enters the king's harem and begins her year of beauty treatments, she does what the king's advisors tell her to do. When it was time to enter into the king's presence for the first time, she asked her attendant what she should take with her, and she took only that. At every point in her life, she was letting someone else call the shots, doing only what she was told exactly as she was told and never stepping outside the lines. 

Then comes the impossible moment: her uncle Mordecai tells her that she needs to go talk to the king on behalf of her people...and the king has a long-standing rule that no one comes into his presence unless he asks for them. She cannot, in this instance, simply obey both. To obey one is to disobey the other, no matter which way she goes. 

For what may be the first time in her life, she has to make a choice.

I don't think we give her enough credit for what has got to be an absolutely excruciating moment. We always focus on the danger of putting her life on the line, but what about the risk of simply making a choice? 

Most of us are never going to face actual death or even the threat of it. But we are faced with these sorts of situations every day. Some of us spend much of our lives just following the rules, doing what's expected of us, living up to someone else's expectations. Fulfilling our roles. Knowing our place. Not pushing the boundaries. 

But inevitably, there comes a point where we come up against a situation that doesn't have a simple way through. We must make a choice. 

Are we willing to make one? 

The Bible doesn't tell us how Esther made her choice, except with a lot of prayer. She gathered her people to pray for her, and then she did what she believed was right - ready to accept whatever the consequences were of that decision. 

And that's really the only way we can do it, too. We have to look at the choice in front of us, pray about it, gather our prayer warriors behind us, and then do what we believe is right - what we believe God is calling us to - and be ready to accept whatever the consequences are of our decision. 

But we must choose. We must make a choice. Not making a choice is a choice in itself, one that often favors the default or the status quo, whatever that happens to be. 

So can you choose? When push comes to shove, are you ready to make a choice? Will you make a choice?