Esther 1-10

For Such a Time as This 

(Purim)

Esther 4:13-14 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Link to full passage on Bible Gateway

Prayer:

Esther and several other beautiful women were chosen as candidates to replace Queen Vashti, who had been banished by the king. Esther not only possessed outward beauty, but inward beauty as well, and her lovely disposition endeared her to everyone around her. When it was her turn to present herself before the king, he loved her more than the others and she obtained grace and favor in his sight and he chose her to be his queen. Grace and favor would soon be of utmost importance, not only for Esther but for all the Jewish people in the days ahead. It would be the king's grace and favor extended to Esther that would save her people from genocide - turning a time of disaster for the Jews into a time of celebration. Our Father, thank You for the beautiful story of Esther. Help us to possess the same gentle disposition she had, and help us to obtain grace and favor should we be confronted with a time of desperation and need. May we, like Esther, reflect Your love by being willing to risk our own lives for the sake of others. For there is no love that is greater than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (John 15:13)