Chosen With Esther: 7 Days Of Purposeনমুনা

In the midst of an excessive beauty pageant, Esther stands out once again. This time for her simplicity. When going in to see the king, the text tells us that “she asked for nothing.” Even when everything around her said that she needed to have, and be, and do more – she resigned herself to less.

We do not get any words from Esther during the entire first part of the book. But from what is to come, we can guess what she may have been thinking during this process: I am who God has made me to be, and that is enough to fulfill what he has called me to do. It is an echo of yesterday’s lesson, and I believe the more we read in Esther’s story, the more prevalent it will become.

The king chose Esther to be his queen not because of the certain treatment she underwent or the garment she wore. He chose Esther because she was her own person, and did not try to hide behind tactics and gifts. Either the king would want her for who she was, or he wouldn’t.

I heard a story recently that can help us see the lesson in today’s passage. 

One day a speaker held up a $20 bill in front of his audience and asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” Hands went up across the room. 

He then dropped the bill to the ground and began to trample it under his shoe. After a few moments of this, he picked it back up and asked “Now, who still wants it?” Again, the same hands popped up across the room.

The speaker said, “You have all learned a valuable lesson. No matter what happened to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. In the same way, we will be dropped and dirtied by this life. But just like the $20 bill, you will never lose your value.”

Esther knew her value. Treatments, perfumes, and gifts did not change her value; neither would it have changed if the king had chosen a different woman. Esther was a daughter of the True King, our Heavenly Father, and that was enough.

You, reading this now, are enough. 

Regardless of the people that have trampled on you, the disappointments life has thrown at you, or the opportunities that did not choose you. You are valuable. You are loved. Most of all, you are alive which means God still has a plan for your life and a reason for your journey.

Takeaway: Nothing in this life can subtract from the value God has given me.

Prayer: Lord, You have told me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Give me the courage to believe that today.