Esther

August 22

Esther 7:1-6, 8:3-6, 10:3

Esther’s request

Queen Esther had prepared a special banquet for Haman and the king. At the banquet the king asked her, “Tell me what you want and you shall have it.”

“All I ask is that I and my people may be allowed to live: someone is planning to kill us!”

“Who would dare do such a thing?” the king asked.

“Our enemy and persecutor is this evil man,” Esther replied pointing to Haman. The king was furious and had Haman hanged that same day.

Later, Esther went to speak to the king again and fell at his feet, weeping. The king held out his golden staff to show that she was welcome in his presence. So Esther asked if there was a way to stop her people from being killed. But, because of the country’s law, the king could not change the order he had signed. Instead, the king gave Mordecai permission to do whatever he could to help the Jews defend themselves, which they did.

In this way, Esther and Mordecai put a stop to the killing of God’s people, and the king put Mordecai in charge of his whole kingdom.

Will God allow me into His presence?

Do you think that a mighty king would allow dirty, noisy kids to run into his throne room?

The Lord does! He loves having children around Him, and although we aren’t in heaven yet, we can go boldly to God in prayer and talk to Him about anything. The Lord is loving and merciful, and even though we don’t deserve to come into His Holy presence, He lets us come right up to His throne in heaven because Jesus has washed us clean.

Verse for today

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16