I can walk in Esther’s footsteps. I can walk a mile in her shoes. And learn a lot from her.

I can learn things like:

I have nothing to fear.
There’s no permit needed to be brave.
There’s no limit to God’s love.

A couple weeks back in small group, we shared our responses to the question: “How has accepting and choosing Jesus enriched your life?” And one of the things I shared was that in situations which should’ve destroyed me, I instead found deliverance in the strength and grace of Jesus. I remembered how I’ve been inspired by Esther time and time again.
Deliverance. Bringing the people out of slavery. Releasing them from the threat of being destroyed. Staring down the big, bad enemies.

Esther, when faced with the edict, or order, for her people to be destroyed was bolstered by the prayers of righteous people. She got to play a pretty freaking cool part in the redemptive story God was telling in that moment. As the wife of King Xerxes, she used her influence to speak up and prevent her people from being annihilated by an official order he had made commanding them all to be killed (read the book of Esther if you’re not familiar with the story!).

I have some questions for Esther—things not answered in the Bible.
Did Esther cry for her parents who died? Did she even like being the queen? Did she worry about her adoptive father Mordecai? Was she tired of lying about who she really was?
I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask her, if I could.
But mostly, I’d love to ask her, “In what ways did choosing God enrich your life?”

Deliverance as Small as a Sticky Note

Deliverance.
That’s the word that serves as the foundation for my writing.
I want to be an instrument of freedom, breaking the chains through the power of Jesus.

Psalm 34:4 New International Version (NIV)
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.”

In my freshman dorm room, I had the word “Deliverance” written on a sticky note and stuck to the top shelf of my standard, school-issued desk. When I packed up all of my dreams, worries, and goals at the end of the year, I tucked away that sticky note into my memory box and wondered, “When will it come true?”

But it was true the entire time. Both then, in my freshman-year dorm room, and even now, as that same sticky note is tucked away in my memory box. Deliverance is an ongoing process, a series of small decisions that oftentimes lead to the bigger redemptive arc of the grand story Jesus is telling.

It’s like one of those lyrics hidden in the bridge of your favorite song. You’ve been singing it the whole time, but not until this moment do you realize the significance of it.

Every time I’ve surrendered my own will and obeyed the Lord, deliverance has come. It has come in the form of a friend who has let me cry on her shoulder. It has come in the form of a treasured memory of my mom. It’s come in the form of a Bible verse written on a note card that’s creased from folding and unfolding it throughout the day. It has come through me being convicted by my own bold words in these blog posts that I’d rather shrink away from.
Big statements. Small moments. People choosing to be obedient to God’s call. Deliverance has come.

Deliverance from Fear, Loneliness, and Separation from God

Esther was bold, brave, and cunning. She did not know when or where God was going to show up or how he was going to bring deliverance to her people. In fact, she didn’t even know if she herself was going to survive (“If I perish, I perish”). Deliverance comes in the hard places. Not when I’ve asked for it. Not when I wanted it. Not even in the ways that I would’ve chosen.

Esther probably wouldn’t have said, “Yes, Lord, have me be an instrument of redemption AFTER my entire people are placed in captivity and taken from our homeland, AFTER my parents are no longer in the picture, AFTER I’m subjected to a pagan beauty contest, AFTER I’m completely disconnected from, and hiding from, my true heritage.”
She was where she was for “such a time as this.” And she faced three very important obstacles in her journey forward:

Fear:

She addresses her fear straight away: “If I perish, I perish.” She had to approach the throne of her husband, King Xerxes, to ask for help, even though approaching the king without an invitation was an offense worthy of death.

Loneliness:

She identified that she couldn’t do this alone and asked all of the Jews in Suza and her servants to fast. Mordecai is the one who spurs her on in to do something about this terrible situation. She’s not alone.

Separation from God:

Thankfully, we serve King Jesus, not fallible and imperfect King Xerxes. Esther is spared when she approaches Xerxes because he extends his golden scepter toward her, which was symbolic of him pardoning her and his acceptance. We can boldly approach the throne of Jesus because of his sacrifice on the cross.

Hebrews 4:16, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

If Esther was brave enough to approach King Xerxes who was not God-fearing or righteous, what’s stopping us from approaching our gracious God?

Where Do You Need Deliverance in Your Own Life?

I don’t know about you, but for me, there are places in my life that I need grace to help me out. I desperately need a gracious God to show me the bold and brave path before me.

Esther 4:14 New International Version (NIV)
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Where do you need to enact the path of deliverance? I don’t want the relief and deliverance to arise from another place. I want it to come true in this place—right here, right now.
It’s a relief to know that God will enact his plan with or without me. But it’s not an escape route.
Would I rather be Esther or Jonah?

Jonah 1:9−10, “He [Jonah] answered, ‘I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ This terrified them and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)”

If I stay silent, if I stay static, God will still do a new thing. But I’d much rather be a part of it.

Isaiah 43:19 New International Version (NIV)
“See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”

When I follow in Esther’s steps, I can bring deliverance. By following her lead, we choose to risk our lives and approach the big, scary unknowns by submitting to God’s authority and providence.
We rescue people in captivity. We make streams in the wasteland. We unfold a note card with a Bible verse over and over until it has creases and the ink fades.

Let me tell you a story from my own life. The story starts with Grace. Grace was a few years behind me in college, but we’d connected during a mission trip my senior year. Grace just so happened to be placed at my work for her class’s service project requirement the next spring. Grace’s grandma gave her a Bible verse during this time. Grace felt the tug of the Holy Spirit to give that same Bible verse, written on a note card, to me on an ordinary February day.
Later that afternoon, I received the call that my mom had a brain tumor. Then I gave that Bible verse to my mom as she sat on the couch recovering from a chemo session. Now that Bible verse is tucked away in my memory box next to the sticky note stating:

Deliverance.

This story required Grace’s grandma to read Scripture and send it to her granddaughter. Then Grace had to be obedient. I had to be receptive to her gift of Scripture. I had to pass it along to my mom to bring her some encouragement. We can all be instruments of deliverance. We don’t know where God will take it.

In Esther’s Steps We Find Strength

In Esther’s steps, we find the strength and authority as children of God, co-heirs with Christ, who can boldly approach his throne.
No king here on earth matters. No enemy who wishes us harm. None of that compares to the power and resiliency of Christ, our gracious God who understands our weaknesses.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ ” Matthew 28:18−20

This isn’t the beginning for me.

It’s not the end.

It’s the story God’s been telling for a long, long time.

Do you want to be a part of it?