This post is Day 5 in a series of studies about “Esther”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).

Esther – Day 5

Behind the scenes God was at work. He had a plan and just as all the way through the Bible we see His purposes being fulfilled, He would provide the right queen and fulfill another hidden purpose in doing so. Maybe it was The Lord who inspired the wise men.

Esther 2:1-4

Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king’s personal attendants proposed,”Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. … Then let the young women who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice pleased the king and he followed it.

The Thought

We can get the impression on reading the first two chapters of Esther’s story that the king makes no decisions on his own. Everything seems to be have been decided or at least highly recommended by his advisors.

But behind the scenes God was at work. He had a plan and just as all the way through the Bible we see His purposes being fulfilled, He would provide the right queen and fulfill another hidden purpose in doing so. Maybe it was The Lord who inspired the wise men that didn’t even know Him!

Imagine the follow up to this plan. All over the land, young virgins who hoped they were beautiful enough would be getting excited and doing their own beauty treatments. There would be parents too who were absolutely convinced that their daughter was the one the king would find most attractive. Maybe there were others who hid their daughters for protection!

How many of those people would realise that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and the beauty they saw in their own daughters, sisters and cousins may not be recognised by the king?

Action

Read the following verses and pray for yourself and for those you love.