A Holy Beauty Pageant

Esther 4:14 (NIV) “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Esther was one of those girls who happened to be at the right place at the right time with the right looks.  She was obviously very beautiful, young and desirable, however, God had His hand on her, which counted for more than anything she possessed.  She was a Jew and one of many who were a foreign people in the land where King Ahasuerus reigned over 127 provinces, from India to Ethiopia.  She lived with her uncle, Mordecai, because her parents were deceased, and he entered her in a beauty contest which would determine the new queen for King Ahasuerus.

Mordecai instructed Esther to keep her ethnicity secret and tell no one that she was Jewish.  Of all the many, many beautiful young ladies who the king could have picked, Esther stole his heart.  What a Cinderella story!  A young girl who had no royal bloodline, who was a foreigner, who came from a lowly family, who would have normally had no exposure to a king’s consideration of her is now the queen!

Before long, however, it became apparent why God had made this arrangement possible.  There was more at stake than just the ‘dream come true’ life of a young girl.  A plot became plan to annihilate all the Jews from King Ahasuerus’ kingdom.  When Mordecai learned of this evil scheme, he got word to Esther.  She reminded her uncle that she could not approach the king unless he allowed it and that he had no idea that she was a Jew.  That is when Mordecai reminded her with the words in this scripture “and who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this”. 

Esther called for all her people to fast and pray with her for God to give her favor with the king, which he did.  The king ordered the man responsible for the plot to be hanged and wrote a decree which allowed the Jews to be able to defend themselves against anyone who would try to harm them.  God used a young girl from a lowly family to save a nation!

You and I are just as valuable in God’s hands.  Whatever or wherever we may be; our job, our neighborhood, our school, our family, etc., could be a divine appointment – for how do we not know that we have been put there ‘for such a time as this’!