The Heart of a Great Leader

Daily Reading: Esther 6-7

Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed... (Esther 7:3-4)

Devotional Thought: "What am I?  Chopped liver?"  What does that mean?  Wikipedia explains it this way: "Chopped liver was traditionally served as a side dish rather than a main course."  Have you ever felt like a side dish and not the main course?  Have your ideas or feelings been ignored or overlooked? Are you not being considered as fully as you should?

Queen Esther could have asked that question.  In her culture, women were the side dish.  Especially in the court of the king, whose word was law, she could have felt ignored and overlooked.  But Esther reveals the heart of a great leader.  She was a difference-maker, and not only for herself, but for her people.  How did she do that?  I think it was because she...

• Recognized authority.  It started with her cousin Mordecai.  It would have been hard to take him seriously since she was in the king's court and he was a commoner.  But, Esther humbled herself, and recognized that Mordecai had a message she needed to hear.  With that attitude, she went into the king with a request, not a demand.

• Identified with her people.  A tempting option would have been to deny any connection to those condemned.  Instead, she chose like Moses, "rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin" (Hebrews 11.25).

• Interceded for their deliverance.  Putting herself in harm's way, she went before the king and pled their cause.

Because of Esther's courage, the Jews who had been given over to destruction were saved.  Esther had the heart of a great leader.  Do you?

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the example of a great leader in Esther.  Even more, I thank you for Jesus who submitted to his Father's plan, came to earth, and died to save us from our sins.  Grant that I may be like Jesus.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 118:10-13

10 All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

11 They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

12 They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.