Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain WorldSample

The Risk of Not Being Able to Hear

Today’s key verse is Esther 2:15. It says: “When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, (Hey-gay) the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.” (NIV)

I was doing it again.

Though my eyes were looking at my friend and I was even nodding, my thoughts were far ahead. Crafting how I would respond to her messy situation, I prepared my “sage” advice in my head. Do you sometimes do that? Think of what you’ll say instead of listening to what is being said?

I’m beginning to see that when I don’t listen, I’m taking a huge risk. I could suffer the loss of gaining the wisdom I need.

In the past couple of years, I’ve begun to see how much I have to learn when it comes to listening. One person I’m learning from is none other than Esther from the Old Testament.

In Esther 2, Esther finds herself in an uncertain situation. She’s a woman up to her neck in precarious circumstances beyond her control, living in a culture that doesn’t worship the way she does.

The king has dethroned his queen; now he’s ready to fill the spot. Perhaps with mixed motives of their own, advisors give the king counsel to search throughout his kingdom for the best fit. Commissioners then went to every province to collect young, beautiful virgins to be tested by the king and ultimately to become part of his harem. Only one would be chosen as queen.

This is where we find Esther “taken into the king’s palace” according to (Esther 2:8, ESV). One night decides where she’ll spend the rest of her life: on a queen’s throne or in a harem’s corner. Before her night with the king, Esther 2:13 tells us that each woman “was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.” (Esther 2:13, NIV) Since each woman took whatever she desired, the wisdom she needed fell to herself. Though she would have only lived in the foreign environment of the palace for a year, she would need to take whatever she deemed best.

Esther realizes she doesn’t know what she needs to know. There is a huge risk here; her future is at stake.

Instead of thinking ahead to what she thinks she should do or say next, Esther listens to Hegai (Hey-gay), one employed directly by the king, someone who does know what she needs to know.

Esther 2:15 says “When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.” (NIV)

We know Esther listened because she did what Hegai advised.

Listening requires humility. Esther’s actions say, “I don’t know what I need to know. You do. Teach me. Guide me.”

Humility is not something I typically run toward, for humility and humiliation often feel like the same thing. If I humble myself and admit what I don’t know but need to know, I’m afraid I’ll look weak or unqualified, even overly vulnerable.

Instead, my old self, the part of me resistant to change and being made new by Jesus, wants to “fake it ‘til I make it” instead of listening and learning.

Listening gave Esther exactly what she needed: wisdom. Listening gave her tools to move from outsider to insider—the place of true influence. Listening to someone on the inside, humbling herself before she went to the king, allowed Esther to not be humiliated after she went to the king.

Listening will do the same for you and me. Instead of thinking of what we want to do or say, we can listen to learn. Developing a listening and learning heart makes room for God to use us for His glory and to draw others to Himself—a very worthy reason in itself.

Pray this prayer with me as we close today:

Father, Help me to humble myself and become one who truly listens to learn, for I can learn something from every person because every person has been made in Your image. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.