ESTHER 2:9 NIV
“She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.”
Replete in Old Testament history is the way in which God used those who did not believe in Him to further His purposes. On of such people is Cyrus, the creator of the Persian Empire. Isaiah points out that underpinning all his successes was a divine power and purpose – “I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me” (Isa. 45:5). Similarly and not by accident, Esther (a Jew) had been brought to the palace of Persia as one of the finalists to contest as a queen. Our text tells us: “The girl pleased him (the coordinator) and won his favour.” This was not the first time God had given one of His ambassadors favour with a king’s representative. It happened also to Joseph (Gen. 41:9-14). And just as Joseph was a divine instrument to the people of his day, so was Esther to her people. Unknown to anyone in the royal palace, God was setting the stage for the deliverance of His people. Now the bigger picture of why Mordecai and Esther were in the royal city of Susa and not in Jerusalem, the capital of their own land begins to unfold. While in Susa, they could have served their individual purposes and interests but they became part of a greater and wiser plan – to save the Jews from extinction in Persia. Know and understand that God allows our own plans to be curtailed so that we, with Him, can build bigger and better ones. There is a reason why you are where you’re are today. I lift a prayer for you. Like Esther, may God cause you to be favoured. May you be accorded a preferential treatment. May all the necessary resources you need be given you. You’re special and a blessing to this generation. SHALOM: God’s universal blessings to you.
