This year in FamilyQuest we’ll be looking at some Old Testament heroes of the faith. We’ll see how God took flawed human beings and accomplished great things while showing many, including us, just who He is. These famous heroes faced many hard choices and had to trust God to do miraculous things. We pray that as you study these real, live heroes your families will be encouraged that you, too, can trust God to do the big things that seem impossible to us.
In this unit we'll be learning more about Esther. Esther, given favor by those in the King's house, was chosen as queen, though she was an orphan and a Jew. Once told of the horrible plan to rid the country of her people, and reminded of the importance of obedience and speaking up for those who have no voice, Esther did two things we need to do when faced with similar situations: she sought God and she chose obedience. Esther risked her life to save the lives of her people. Though she was "inside the gate" there were many "outside the gate" who were depending on her to speak up and save their lives. As believers, we, too, are "inside the gate" and there are millions "outside the gate" who need to hear the truth about God that will bring salvation to their souls. Will your family do as Ester did: seek God and choose obedience?
Here's a great family devotion that goes along with this unit:
Do Not Keep Silent
By Stephanie Bartlett
Esther’s name means “star,” and Esther was the star of this story. She was a young, beautiful Jewish girl who lived in the kingdom of Persia. She lived during a time when the Jewish people were free to return to their native land of Israel after the Babylonian captivity, but many Jews had chosen not to return but to stay in the cities in which they presently lived. After all, many Jews, like Esther, had been born and raised in these foreign cities; the places in which they lived were home to them. They knew no other home. Stories of the Promised Land had become merely stories told by their grandparents.
In fact, the Jews were in danger of forgetting that they were God’s special people. Maybe they were tired of being looked down upon or tired of feeling different from the people around them. So, after over a century of exile from their own land, they began to blend in. They realized that if they kept their mouths shut and did not say anything about being Jewish, people could not tell they were any different from the other people. How do I know that? Because when Esther was taken to be in the king’s beauty contest, Mordecai instructed her not to tell anyone that she was a Jew. Mordecai knew that she would never win the contest if anyone knew she was a Jew. Has there been a time in your life when you believed it would be better to hide the fact that you know God and follow his commandments so that you could fit in with the people around you? Was the result the peace you were looking for?
When I was about ten years old, I watched a movie at a friend’s house that I knew I wasn’t supposed to watch. I watched it instead of saying no because I didn’t want my friend to think I was weird. Do you think everything was good after that? No, it wasn’t. Proverbs 29:25 tells us that the fear of man will prove to be a snare, a trap. And it is true. I was always a little scared to go back to my friend’s house after that, and I felt uncomfortable when I was there. The next time I did not want to watch a movie that she chose, it was awkward to explain why I did the first time. Imagine how much courage it took for Esther not to keep silent, but to say to King Xerxes, who had just authorized the command to destroy all the Jews, “Um, uh. . . you didn’t know this little important fact about me when you chose me to be the queen, but, uh. . .I am a Jew.”
Where did Esther get her courage? Consider that God is not even mentioned once in the book of Esther. But does that mean he was not there? God was definitely there. And when Esther and the Jews fasted (Esther 4:16), I am sure they prayed too, and God answered. God gave Esther wisdom and courage. In fact, it is obvious that this was HIS story all along! When his chosen people started to care more about fitting in with the people around them than they cared about him, he allowed an enemy of the Jews to rise up. God used this crisis for the good of his people. He used it to save them and to remind them that “whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe” (The second half of Proverbs 29:25). God used this enemy to unite the Jewish people once again under his Lordship.
Instead of life going smoothly when Esther and the Jews kept quiet about God, their lives were turned upside down. But when they acknowledged God, he showed them exceedingly great favor among all the people. So much favor did he show them that even non-Jewish people wanted to be Jews (Esther 8: 17). When the Jews stood up together and honored God, not everyone, but many people wanted to be like them!
