Trusting God's Plan When You Don't See Him: Lessons From the Book of EstherSample

This is the part of the story where everything changes for Esther! For a year, her handmaids and Hegai have been diligently preparing her with beauty treatments to captivate the king. Finally, she is summoned into the king’s royal residence. This major event occurs in the tenth month of the Jewish calendar, known as Tevet or Tebeth in some translations. It’s a cold and wintery time of the year in the Middle East, and she’s just been called in to win the heart of a perfect stranger, the King of Persia.

Imagine the nerves Esther must have felt as she was escorted to his residence. It's unlikely she’d ever met the king before that night. Her mind must have raced with questions:

• What is he like?
• What should I say?
• What will he think of me?
• What if he doesn’t like me?

Esther brought nothing with her except what Hegai had recommended for the royal residence. Goodness, I would have loved to witness those first introductions—talk about major nerves. If you've ever experienced first date jitters, magnify those feelings a thousandfold. If the king didn’t like her the next day, she could have a dreadfully bleak future ahead of her as a concubine. The stakes were incredibly high!

“Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.” (Esther 2:17)

Esther becomes queen! A grand banquet is thrown in her honor. Talk about a life-changing day—from obscurity to royalty in a single moment. It almost reminds me of Joseph from the book of Genesis, who went from prisoner to second in command of Egypt in just one day, though God had been faithfully preparing him for that role for years. If you want to delve deeper into his story, we offer a great study called “Trusting God’s Plan in the Waiting: Lessons from the Life of Joseph,” so be sure to check it out here on the Bible app. Esther is now Queen of Persia, and soon, she will discover that God placed her in this position for such a time as this.

Questions:

1. Esther changed from an unknown to a queen in one day, but God had been preparing her for a long time. How does obedience in the mundane events of life prepare you for God’s greater purpose?

2. Have you faced a pivotal, nerve-wracking moment that held the power to alter your life? What was going through your mind at that time?

3. Even though God is not explicitly mentioned in these verses, what are some ways that God was directing Esther’s life?