Queen Esther
For Such a Time
Esther 4-7about 3 minutes to read aloud
Far from Jerusalem, in the palace of King Xerxes of Persia, a Jewish girl named Esther became queen. She had been raised by her cousin Mordecai. She did not yet tell the king that she was a daughter of Israel.
A proud man named Haman served the king. He hated Mordecai, and he made a plan. He tricked the king into signing a law that the Jews, every one of them, would be destroyed on a set day.
Mordecai tore his clothes in grief. He sent word to Esther. "Go to the king. Beg for your people." Esther sent back, "No one may come before the king unsummoned. Even I could be killed." Mordecai answered, "Who knows? Perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this."
Esther gathered courage. "Tell our people to fast for me for three days. I and my maids will fast too. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
On the third day she put on her royal robe and stood in the court of the king. He lifted his golden scepter to her. He welcomed her. She invited him and Haman to a banquet.
At the banquet Esther spoke. "O king, save my life, and the life of my people. We are to be destroyed — and the man who planned it is this Haman." The king was enraged. Haman was undone. The king made a new decree, and the Jews were saved. The Lord had set Esther on a throne to preserve His people.
Questions to talk about
Who was Esther?
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Esther was queen of Persia, raised by her cousin Mordecai.
What did Mordecai say to Esther?
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Mordecai said she may have been made queen for exactly this moment.
What did Esther do to prepare?
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Esther called for her people to fast and pray with her for three days.
The lesson
God works His rescue through ordinary people in unlikely places. He places His children where they are needed.
