What Are You Willing to Die For?

Daily Reading: Esther 4

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4.14)

Devotional Thought: King Xerxes has been manipulated by Haman into issuing a decree that would essentially result in the genocide of the Jewish people.  An entire nation would be killed because of his insecurity and his vendetta against Mordecai.  When word of what the king had done reached Mordecai, he explained the situation to Esther and appealed to her to advocate to the king on her people’s behalf.  Given that she lived in the isolation of the palace, she wasn’t aware of the hateful decree that had been issued.

Esther was understandably apprehensive, as she knew what happened to women who resisted and defied male authority in that highly patriarchal culture.  She was also undoubtedly aware of what had happened to Vashti, as it was her ouster that set the stage for Esther to become queen.

But Mordecai challenged her.  “Don’t think you’ll escape unscathed and remain insulated from this decree.  You’ve been given this platform for a reason.”  So … Esther encouraged Mordecai to gather God’s people and engage in a fervent season of fasting and prayer on her behalf, after which she said, “I’ll do it, even though it’s against the law.  And if I die, I die.”  She decided, on the basis of the prayerful support of her countrymen, to go and make a bold appearance before the king.

In Matthew 10.28 Jesus urged us to have the same attitude—"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”  What are you willing to die for?  In many ways, we haven’t lived until we have something so special and meaningful that we’re willing to sacrifice our very life for it.         Esther was willing to risk it all on behalf of her countrymen and her God.  Are we?

 John Whitsett

Prayer: Heavenly Father … I like to think of myself as having the courage of Esther.  But I’m probably more like the apostle Peter who said he’d die on your behalf and then wilted under pressure.  Help me to make a stand that honors you if I ever find myself in that kind of a situation.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 118:1-4

1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever."

3 Let the house of Aaron say, "His steadfast love endures forever."

4 Let those who fear the LORD say, "His steadfast love endures forever."