Esther!
I went to see ‘One night with the King’ this Saturday. It is a good movie and I recommend it to everyone. The story of hope, promise and God’s provision and providence. It is a great example of how God can use everyday human errors and bless nations. In my weakness lies His strength.
In my own life, God had, in His providence, placed people who, I thought, had done mistakes and deeds against me. They have in a way sharpened me and blessed me in ways I would otherwise might had blurred in my pride.
I have a friend, Scott by name. He was not my favorite until I started reading ‘Esther’ again after watching the movie. I read ‘Esther’ before, but never looked at it the way I look at it now. The emphasis on the cultural aspects in the movie is not like I had imagined. A new perspective is always good. Talking back about my friend, he is the one who insisted that I go to the movie with him since he can not go alone. This is not the first time he made me do something I didn’t want to do in my laziness. Most of them turned out to be better and good experiences than I expected. There were times when I wished he would stop talking, times when I wished he was not there, times when I wished he was not who he is, but looking back he has been the past I needed and I know God has more things for me to learn from and through him. I didn’t start it to be an eulogy to him, but Him.
Talking back about the Big G, in context of Esther, so in my life, will always bring the provisional will in his own times in ways unanticipated. Unlike the modern evangelicals, the story of Esther reassures it is not against God’s pleasure not to mention His name at times not intended. As always, a good strategy to accomplish Great Commission is by just let them see the difference God makes in our lives.
Again, the story is a epitome of how we who are captured in the sliding time can not see the direction in which it is sliding. Esther, as not mentioned in Bible, might had not liked the idea of being captured to be in the Kings harem, least she might had feared ending up being a concubine. No body liked change. Not at least when there is abundant reason to believe it will all lead to pain and suffering. When we talk about Job, we hail his devotion, but I think he had his share of doubts. When change happen, he shielded himself with devotion, but not faith. When the devotion, his works, failed he started questioning God. We are all Jobs. Unlike Esther we all start questioning, “Why God! Why?”. However, God knows what he is getting us into and so does he know that he will get us through it wiser and purer.
Love thy enemy! This we hear in Bible and see, for the first time in Bible, practically lived out in the story of Esther by Mordecai. He was in the midst of people who not just don’t understand his belief but despise him and his people for his belief. He be loyal and love the very reign that conspire to destroy him and his people for their belief. We concentrate more on being prosecuted than on loving and caring others. We think of it so much, we fear even before we try.
Here is a very interesting thing in Esther that we love to ignore. Unlike our modern culture, she married a man who she date not. As the story speaks, Xerexes is not a wise, compassionate king, nor he had any respect for women and he is not a Jew, not a believer. Even so, God choose him to be her husband. She obeyed and she is blessed. The king ends up loving her for who she is and respect her enough to take her advice in his state matters. It is the glory of God in Esther that made the King bow. I believe all the dating games and choosing the right one is a myth. God in His providence make things happen and we in our free will should choose to live through them in obedience and hope. Esther did what is right, she confronted her own husband which is non-Jewish in custom. It is living by the spirit and not by choices and judgment that works. Even a bad marriage can be worked out if lived in hope and faith. It works!
I am not giving an advice. If you make a choice take the responsibility of making it work. Most of the times you can not do it. So, make a choice in good faith not in good desire. If you can live without it, don’t make the choice. Don’t guess you can make it because you think you are called to. I may be babbling here but I know what I feel and understand. There are no true words to express how God works.
Ruth is where we look for how a woman should choose his better-half. Ruth likes the man who is caring, protective and respecting. This story only implies the morally accepted cultural way to fall in love. It doesn’t tell anything about how their future has been blessed. The emphasis is mainly how Godly people act smart than how one should choose. Choices are made by our Creator!
Again, I have nothing against dating or choosing. I just want you to understand that our choices have consequences and don’t blame God for them and what ever the situation your choices got you into or God got you into, remember God will get you through it.
Some points about the movie. It is not Biblically accurate as much as it is archeologically. It brought forth the Persian culture vividly around the Jewish faith. The contrast is overwhelming striking. Language used is contemporary yet modest. It is a must see, if a new perspective and revival of faith are needed.
