Esther 5:1-14

Courage is a very difficult virtue to muster in the face of death.  However, Esther, after three days of prayer and fasting, puts on her royal robes and very humbly approaches the king.  Her cause is just but the danger is very real.  Her life is at stake no matter what happens but she knows that it is very unlikely that she would be targeted by Haman’s diabolic plan.  She considers the lives of her fellow countrymen to be more precious than her own and puts her life at risk in order to attempt to save them.  The world continues to desperately need courageous and selfless people who are willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to save the lives of others.

ESTHER IS PATIENT IN HER EFFORTS TO SAVE: I try to imagine myself in Esther’s place, I think that I would have likely run right into the throne room and can almost see myself blurting out: “what kind of a stupid law did you pass now?”  Esther is obviously wiser than I am.  She not only spends three days fasting and praying before going to see the king, but when she goes in she does not even tell the king what she wants.  Instead, she sets up a series of banquets that she invites him to attend with Haman before she opens up about the subject.  We need to constantly remind ourselves that when we face dangers or difficult time; we must not push the panic button.  Our first response in times of distress should be to pray, then after careful consideration and with great humility we should seek to proceed with wisdom.

HAMAN IS PROUD IN HIS EFFORTS TO SLAY: Haman is the polar opposite of Esther.  He is proud and when he hear of his invitation to a banquette; he becomes even prouder.  Instead of being thankful for what he thinks is “good fortune,” he becomes angry because Mordecai will not bow down to him.  He has already put in place a plan that will allow him to legally kill him, but he cannot wait for that day to come.  He has no patience and makes the decision to have Mordecai hung from his specially built gallows on the very next day.  Proud and egotistical people are almost always foolish and end up being miserable.  Haman has every reason in the world to be full of joy and gratitude he is rich and powerful and has the respect of everyone, or so he thinks, but one single individual.  He is totally unable to enjoy the blessings he has because he is focusing on the one thing that he does not have.  Unfortunately, most of us have that same tendency to count our losses instead of our blessings.