Esther said in Esther 8:5(NLT), “If it please the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if he thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces should be destroyed.” In Esther 8:8(NLT), the king replied, “Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring.”
Not long ago, a man shared with me that he not only expects the woman he marries to have a very high credit score, but he also expects her to prove to him that she can keep it that way for at least a year. I asked him, “Now where in His Word does God talk about this kind of thing being a standard for marriage.” If the man is assuming the role God assigned to him, should he really be using a woman’s credit score as a test for marriage? Is this what he’s using to judge whether she is worthy of him? The point is, men these days are just as concerned about their criteria as women are about theirs.
Esther’s example stands out because she was a woman of honor. One might say that King Xerxes was exactly the opposite. After his wife betrayed his authority, he set about looking for a new wife. Of course, he wanted to choose from a pool of only the most beautiful women in the region. In his quest, he discounted and dishonored many young women by robbing their virginity and tossing them aside as concubines. Like many of them had done, Esther was one of the young women that was put through beauty treatments to make her pleasing to the king, but he did not cast her aside as he had done with many others. She was indeed very beautiful, but it was Esther’s character that made her stand out. This is how she obtained favor with the king, became his wife, and ultimately saved her people.
There can be no doubt in our minds that Esther obtained favor with the king because first and foremost, she had favor with God. She had faith in Heavenly Father and in her young life, she had learned to trust in Him no matter the circumstances. God elevated her in position and rank because she had proven her allegiance to serve and obey Him. This is the kind of trust that God wants us to have in Him as well.
Men will have all kinds of likes and dislikes when it comes to the women they are initially attracted to. Much of their criteria may be very worldly and based on physicality instead of spirituality in Christ. They are not as concerned about the woman’s walk with the Lord as they are about her pockets, curves or lack thereof. The reality is that there are lots of gorgeous women out there, and many of them may have a perfect credit score. They might have the good job, the nice car, and all the other fixins’ to go with those things. From the outside, they seem to be the total package, but the inside may be an entirely different story indeed.
Hebrew 11:6(NLT) tells us, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Some of us flip the script on this one. We make the mistake of seeing a man as the one who rewards us. Typically, by comparison, women are thought to be more emotional, and we are often more willing to be vulnerable. This is no doubt in large part due to women being innately nurturing, quite a bit more than our male counterparts. Because of this, many of us are very quick to put the man’s need ahead of our relationship with God. We will cater to the man but will not do the things God requires. This will not prove to be a successful strategy.
We must never put anything ahead of our relationship with God. Trusting in His love first is always the requirement. He is the REWARDER! He knows best, and He knows the destiny of every person that has ever lived. A man might think he knows the best fit for his life, but truly only God knows this.
Through His servant, Moses, God told His people living in Old Testament times in Deuteronomy 28:13(NLT), “If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.” God will do for His children what no other human being can do. Because of what He has done through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He has given us a seat at the table in His Kingdom. Through Christ, HE, and He alone, has made us the head and not the tail. Our responsibility is to walk humbly in the heft of all that He has made us to be through our Master Jesus.
We must live through Jesus Christ! His example is everything to us. We are given new life and God transforms us from the inside out. This is the character that draws the man that God has ordained we should walk with through life. Having success is a really good thing, but we don’t have to worry about how society views us. Jesus Christ is our King! He is Lord of lords, and we belong to him. The only thing that matters is that we please God and place our total trust in His goodness. If we are faithful to obey Him, He will reward us just as He did Esther. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Trust in God’s Love First”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.