Queen Esther had some guts. There she was, in the outer courts, trembling
as she bowed before the king, hoping and praying that he would reach out his
golden scepter, accepting her in his presence.
If he didn’t accept her, she would die.
Not all women were as fortunate
as Esther. Some boldly approached the
King, and in doing so, received death.
Esther 4:11 shows us the risk Esther faced if she was to come into the
King’s presence, “there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to
whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live.” If the King did not accept the person who
walked boldly into his courts by extending his golden scepter, they would die.
Esther knew this all too well as
she walked into the outer courts. But
she had to. Her nation, the Jews, were
facing extinction, and the only way to save them was for her to put her life on
the line and pray that she could plead her case before the King.
She had not seen the King in 30
days. As a woman, she was probably
facing insecurities, doubt, fear, and anxiety.
But, none the less, she still chose to boldly approach the King.
My guess is she approached with
as much humility and reverence she could find, knowing her King deserved her
respect and honor. She was well aware
that this was the right attitude to have as she approached the presence of the
King, if she wanted to save her life.
As she walked in, she probably bowed
on the ground, not in worship but in respect, showing the King that he deserved
her approbation. She revealed, through
her actions that she was subject to the King, and she would take death if that
is what the King decided to do.
The King responded favorably, as
he knew she truly respected him.
Now imagine you have a case to
plead in front of the President of the United States. Let’s say you are able to meet him in the
Oval Office and re given one chance to state your case. How would you shake his hand? What would you say? How would you show him respect? Now imagine if the President didn’t like what
you had to say and he had the legal authority to kill you simply because you
agitated him. How would you respond
then?
It bothers me today to see some
Christians (including myself) approach the throne of God without the reverence,
honor, and fear he deserves. If we had
the chance, some of us would talk to the President with more respect and honor
than we do with God. We jump in and out
of prayer with no regard to the King we are attempting to commune with. We go to church to stimulate our desire to be
entertained with good music and a funny message, without ever preparing our
hearts to worship our King. We take his
grace, and we run with it, without a care in the world. Often times our prayers are filled with no
admiration but rather our to-do list for God and how he can meet our latest
needs for comfort.
I wonder if we had the view of
God that Moses had up on Mount Sinai, would we pray differently? Would we tremble at the sight of God? I bet you we would.
I can hear some people saying
right now, “Greg, Hebrews 4 says, Let us then with confidence draw near to the
throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of
need.” Excellent point. We are to draw near to the throne of grace
just as Esther drew near the King’s throne confidently to ask for help. But notice that word the author uses,
“confidence”. Why do we have to approach
with confidence?”
That word in Greek is parresia and literally means to have
boldness in public. Why would we need
boldness when coming to God? For starters,
two verses before, Jesus is called the Great High Priest. We have boldness because we understand who we
are approaching, someone much greater than us.
Also, we approach with boldness because we know Jesus can do something
about our situation because he s the King of Kings.
My question to you is do you
humbly approach the throne of God in prayer with boldness? Does your prayer
life even require boldness, or do you walk in and out of the presence of God as
a drunken family friend who walks in and out of your house in his stupor, with
no respect to you? Approach the Lord
with your needs, by all means, but do it humbly, in prayer, as you recognize
that you are talking to the King of Kings.
