I've recently been reading through the book of Esther. Even after having read it many times, I'm still amazed by the story. A young girl is chosen to be queen and God uses her to save her people, the Jews, from horrible slaughter. I try to imagine myself in that situation... and I know for a fact that I would be terrified. Even Esther did not want to do it at first, fearing for her own life. But in the end, she asked the Jews to fast and pray for her, and in faith she went and told the king of Haman's plans. Wow. I don't think that kind of courage could come from anywhere except from God. If I was Esther, would I have that kind of faith and trust in the LORD? Would I allow Him to help me overcome my fears? It's something I've been challenged with a lot this past week.
We all have fears. We are afraid of our loved ones dying, of being hurt, of natural disasters... some of us are even afraid of making mistakes. And I think a lot of the time we choose to let those fears sit inside us and eat us up. What I've learned from reading Esther's story is that God wants us to call to Him, just like Esther did by fasting and praying. If we give up all our fears to God, He can release us from those chains. I believe that God calls us to face our fears with Him at our side... to be fearless queens.
