Never Mind Job . . . Give Me the Patience of Esther

I’ve always thought of Esther as my go-to girl when it comes to courage. There she is – married to a pompous king she met ONCE before he picked her for his bride. On top of that, if she wants to see him and he doesn’t want to see her – she is dead – literally. Then, she gets picked to save all the Jewish people from complete destruction. And the odds are not really in her favor. If she does nothing, she dies. If she tries and fails, she dies. Not trying just isn’t much of an option. Does she have courage? Oh, yes. But, I never thought about Esther as a poster child for patience!

Our world today is not geared to teaching us patience -or even encouraging it, for that matter. When’s the last time you actually baked a potato? In the real oven. . .with an “X” cut into the potato. . . wrapped in aluminum foil. . . like your grandmother did. That kind of baked potato. My son has NEVER baked one that way; he is a product of a microwave-it-and-run, don’t-make-me-wait, instant everything generation. He once (very loudly) wailed, “Mom! The microwave says it takes SIX MINUTES to bake this potato. Who has that kind of time?!” Well . . . you do, if you want to eat.

An aside – there’s something I want to share with you about Haman. I am not a fan. Never have been, but I am even less of one now that I know him a little better. He is almost a caricature and I just cannot think of evil, self-important, arrogant, ruthless Haman without picturing Lord Farquaad from Shrek. If you don’t know who he is, you really need to see the movie. A quick sketch - he is self-important, ruthless, evil, and in need of a genuine princess to help him attain the royal status he lacks. Lord Farquaad can’t even rule a fairy tale. He is also very, very, very short – so when he hops down from his gigantic horse, his fake long legs stay attached to the horse since they are simply a way to hide his tiny real legs. Haman seems to be just as much of a fraud to me – and he doesn’t belong in a palace any more than Lord Farquaad. Thankfully, Haman’s “palace time” is going to be quite limited. Back to what I started to say . . . .

I am seeing my favorite queen in a new way. For many, many years, I have known the story of Esther. And I always wondered why in the world, when King Xerxes was pretty much just saying, “Esther, name it and claim it. Anything you want – it’s yours,” that Esther’s response was, “Hey, how about you and Haman showing up for another banquet tomorrow?” What was THAT about?! Anyway - turns out, it was about God’s timing, not Esther’s. God’s plan, not Esther’s. So, God wants Esther to have a little patience and she agrees. If she hadn’t had the patience to wait and act when God wanted her to act, the outcome would have been much different. As it turns out, Esther’s willingness to be patient and wait on God’s timing saved the day – and the Jews.

What about you and me? What could God do with us if we just had the patience to WAIT? What if we had the discipline to do what He wants us to do when He wants us to do it – not when it seems convenient, not when it seems “right,” not just get it over with, but when God decides it is time? What if we studied and prayed and talked to God so often, so earnestly that we were really in tune with His plan for us? What if we had the patience of Esther? What could He do with your life? What might He do with mine?

Proverbs 15:18
A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.