Esther ChallengeSample

The King is depicted as a prideful man that loved for others to see the splendour of his wealth. He wanted Queen Vashti to come to his banquet on the seventh day so that he could display her beauty because she was ‘lovely to look at’. This is somewhat parallel to the present day skewed view on women. Oftentimes, women aren’t seen beyond being a pretty face or a baby-popping machine. He wanted her at His banquet because she was just another treasure, an accolade to his wealth.

Would you have gone to the banquet knowing that you would be a living statue for men to drool at and not to actually celebrate?

Queen Vashti refused to go to the banquet. She didn’t want to display herself before all those men, but her husband wanted her to. He was supposedly proud of her beauty, wanting everyone to see his good-looking wife, but she wanted no part of it. Was she wrong? What can we learn?

PRIDE
Being prideful can desensitise us from understanding how another person may feel about something. In King Ahasuerus’ case, he didn’t think about how his wife felt about being on display for all to drool at, he was too obsessed with his image.

THE SUBMISSIVE WIFE
Though we may agree with Queen Vashti’s decision, it is still important for wives to obey their husbands. Having said that, we ought to obey them when what they desire for us to do is not contrary to what God would want us to do. Here is an extreme example; if my husband asked me to kill someone, of course I wouldn’t do it, because God’s word overrides his word. It is much easier to submit to a man that is fully submitted to God.

LOSING YOUR POSITION – YOUR DECISIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
The scripture, ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice’ comes to mind with this situation. If Vashti had obeyed her husband she would have remained as his Queen, but she sacrificed her position. We can loosely relate this to our walk in Christ, let us be obedient to His word and so that we don’t take on the position of an unreformed sinner when we are really sinners that have been made saints through Christ.

Submission is a sensitive topic – share your thoughts on King Ahasuerus’s and Queen Vashti’s actions via twitter with #EstherChallenge