Esther 2:1-17 KJV
1 After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
2 Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:
4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king's house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.
10 Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.
11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.
12 Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
13 Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.
14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Mordecai was of royal line, ancestors of the Benjamites(King Saul's family line perhaps, do not know for certain but at the minimum a cousin. The point is not about his ancestory, his point is Mordecai care for Esther who he raised from time of her parents death. She had no other relative to raise her apparently so Mordecai took her in and she became a daughter to him. He was a man that was for the protection of his people, but also a protector of this daughter of his family. We can not grasp the fear that must of come to Mordecai when Esther was taken into the palace to be potential a queen, or how many tears shed, or how many winkles and gray hair formed when Esther enter the palace along with other virgins from their town and villages across a nation. The idea of marrying someone you do not know is as scary for a potential bride as it is probably for a harlot the first night she commits to sexual act for money. This type of marriage can turn into love, but it is not love in the begining unless love at first sight.

Are women abused in scripture, or society. This story is about society not of the Jewish faith. Jews are living in exile and yet they have entrance into the palace by their women. Esther was a woman of faith, but we hear very little about actual faith until she sends a message to her people to fast and pray for protection later in the book of Esther. What can we know about Esther at this point, she young, beautiful and honored among the woman and even the king. However that how it all turns out. Lets look closer at her plight.

A young woman hopefully head strong, because her introduction into the palace would of been how to please her king as a woman. They would of taught her about purity and certain customs of their queens and the relationship they would have with the king. Either they be picked to be the new queen or to be part of the concumbines, and then they maybe pleasuring more then the king. Now my words might be distasteful to some this morning, that think the story of Esther is romantic in its own way. The idea of prince charming coming and taking you away, maybe a romantic thought. However some people take relationship of marriage more serious. Some that know me might even say you have no right to speak. I met my husband and in three weeks we got married. Some woman would say I would need much more time to decide on if I want even a relationship with a man and that role can be reverse in men want to know a woman longer then three weeks before a life time commitment. So far my husband and I been married 32 years. We were married by choice and we been happy for the most part ever since. If I said it was happily ever after story, that would not be truthful, because with ever marriage is adjustment, changes and so forth one goes through that effects the relatioship, and you have to learn to roll with it, and keep moving in a positive direction. However you may go through all the what ifs, and how worse can it get, before it gets better. Yet Esther did not have a choice in the man she married, only the option of rolling with it and hoping that her position would be queen.

We talk about faith, and we are often dealt a hand that not our choosing, and we left with running a race set before us, either racing to achieve the best life possible in our situation, or living a life not so best. We can act defeat, be rebellious, but if there more guns then you able to fight then you learn to fight a different way by getting to the top the only way you can and for Esther that was to be queen of a country that had taken her people captive and then wanted to kill them. Oh you didn't know read the whole book of Esther the story interesting. However Esther was in place by man's choosing, but God was going to use her to win the victory of protection for her people.

Victory is often not yet seen, whether in small circles or in large regions of the world, our place of where we are to stand is for a purpose. When we see woman being force into marriage, forced into situation because of monetary means are limited, then we have to ask how can we change the problem. Education, work and so forth in our world, yet for the time of Esther it was about God's placement in general, even though it appears to be man in charge because of a king's desire. God did not leave his people alone, if they are in a situation designed by man and not him. However we got to do our part as well. Ladies if you know you can work outside the home, and care for your home and family do so. The world expects it and it si for your protection in life, so do it, while you are young and strong, because you do not know what life is going to hand you. You can hope for daily bread, but you might be praying for the crumbs of someone else's meal. The point being, men and women can find themselves in all sorts of situations not by their choice. However we have a God and Savior we can pray to and we can learn to walk and obey the Spirit of God, through Christ Jesus. Can we still find ourselves in need or in want? That is where unless we know the whole story of someone struggles can we really see the full picture. God's words say his people will not be begging for bread, and yet Israel in the wilderness begged for bread, yet God provided. Esther was favored by the king and other woman. God was with Esther, but he was with his other people too.

Sometimes we need to clean the garabage out of our life and other times we need to not only run foreward to achieve, but to pray that we enter through the right gate, or door that meant for us. God protect Esther marriage, the king did not shame her as he did his first wife. God hand was upon Esther. Yet at this point it looks as if women were gather like cattle put in the palace and whoever could satisfy a king got position. It was more then that. Esther was treasured by the king. Maybe she knew how to talk to the king, after all her Uncle Mordecai had raised her, and so she learned to talk to a man from early childhood. She even knew probably how to address him. How to get her uncle to smile, and how to please her uncle in things she did for him. Knew what made him angry. Though she was still a virgin entering the palace, she probably knew that even if she did not love the king she could serve him, because she served her uncle. Some of this is a writers perspective and not all will agree. I agree with that, you don't have to agree. But Esther journey to saving her people came with sacrifice of her very being as queen. Meaning she had to laydown her dreams a young woman of marrying for love, but marrying someone she just did not know and had to hide who she was from. She could not be true to herself or anyone for that matter, when she had to hide her heritage as far as a being a Jew.

There times we must hide ourselves to protect ourselves from harm of others, and other times we must shine for others to see God and Christ in us. There some in the world out there that struggle in the situation they are in, give it to God. God can change your situation if you trust him. There are times of weakness, but our trust in God must be more then our circumstance. Imagine Esther giving fresh pillow, bed with blankets, and a bath, clothes fit for a queen. Imagine all the finery of jewelry and so forth, and yet none of these things would heal the soul that was commiting to a life style not of her choosing.

However we can not think what is told to young woman that could be taken to be a kings bride, to embrace the situation, go and be a good wife for a king and do what your told. They glorify the barberaic life style of human trafficking, they glorify prostitution, they glorify the abuse of women and even men. Yet the world fails to see the horror in the situation, it is enslavement, it is cultic practice and it is a situation once in you can not run and hide from. Better to think of it romantically until you can leave it. Can God be with someone in this situation, I believe God can, because we see the life of people in scripture enslave situation, from Joseph the son of Jacob and grandson of Isaac. We see Paul in his chains go before the king, and we see Hagar the maid of Sarah, who learned to trust in God despite her stupid human mistakes of allowing her son to make fun of Isaac. We see the struggle of man, and yet we see victory in each story. The reason victory came by God is they trusted in him. When we trust in God and his son Jesus who is his word, then we will see victory in our situation, no matter how long the journey is to victory. A person goes to jail for manslaughter for 25 years that is a life sentence. One can not get back 25 years. Yet God is able to work through them bars of shame and turn it to a life pleasing to him. Joseph obey God in how he responded to his situation. We do not know if the immediate response of Joseph did not come with him trying to pull his chains off, or even trying to escape at some point, what we see is the road that took him to the road of victory in his struggle and he became a ruler in the land over many things in Egypt. Haggar thought she die and God spoke to her in the wilderness.

Where is our victory it lies in the hands of God almighty who is the giver and perserver of life. I seen three death happen, and the order in which they occurred solved the age old question of who was going to take care of who when so and so passed away. God solved it. I even ask if God knows the outcome, then all we have to do is trust in him for victory, because we can not control what we do not know the outcome of beyond doing our best in every situation in life. Can we pray, can we trust God, can we love God and trust him enough to allow his will in our life to be done. Even people of faith struggle, and if they say they don't, tell them that a lie too, we all break down and cry, we all forget God grace and mercy. To show weakness is not cool right, no maybe if people see our humanity, they know we not above their own weakness in life. Let us run the race to win, but knowing in our weakness He is strong. Jesus loves you as you are, and who you will be as he molds you and shapes you into a child fit to sit in his kingdom and rule with him as sons and daughters.

Dear Heavenly Father, help us in our struggles to fight the good fight of faith, knowing our weakness is normal part of humanity, but our focus needs to be on you to have victory, to stand firm in faith even in our weakness. knowing you are before us and know the doors to come that are open if we commit to your will. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study: Hebrews 12:1-4 KJV
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.