SCRIPTURE
Esther 4 Old Testament
Esther was a beautiful, devout, Jewish woman living in exile in Persia, now Iran. Esther's cousin, Mordechai, raised her becuase she was an orphan.
Persia was a pagan land, and therefore didn't believe in God.
The king of Persia's wife, Vashti, disobeyed her hshand's request and this angered the king greatly. He had her removed as queen, and now searched for a new wife. When Mordechai heard about this, he suggested Esther. She had not revealed her Jewish nationality. The king picked her to be his queen because of her amazing beauty. So Mordechai and Esther lived in the palace.
Mordechai overheard a plot to kill the king, told Esther, who told the king. Mordechai had a bitter enemy in the court, the villain in this story. Mordechai refused to bow down to Haman, this villain. Because he was a high official with a lot of influence to the king, he wanted revenge on Mordechai to have him killed and also to force the king to exterminate all the Jews! He was really evil, wasn't he?
Of course, Esther got word of this and told the king. The king reversed this edict because of Esther's persuasion and thus all the Jews were saved from annihilation.
Today the Jews celebrate this by observing a holiday known as Purim.
LESSON
Esther acted bravely with a huge degree of risk. Discipleship, following Jesus, has its risks, too, today. Live faithfully despite the risk just like Esther. Your reward will be great.💕