{"id":9029,"date":"2021-09-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/esthers-steadfast-spirit\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T17:03:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T09:03:29","slug":"esthers-steadfast-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/esthers-steadfast-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Esther’s Steadfast Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Posted by Pastor Gilbert Tan \u2022 Sep 11, 2021<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Our Best Thought is a weekly devotional thoughtfully penned by leaders in DUMC arising from their daily devotions. The devotional’s title, “Our Best Thought” is taken from the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision” as a reference to God: “Thou my best thought, by day or by night.” Publishes on Sundays.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Scripture:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.<\/p>\n

When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.<\/p>\n

Esther 2:5-9 (NIV)<\/p>\n

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Observation:<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine that you are Esther from what we see in Esther 2.<\/p>\n

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  1. <\/span>Esther was orphaned. She did not have any other family members with her, other than her cousin Mordecai.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. <\/span>Esther was like her fellow Jews who lost their home and taken into captivity into a foreign land. <\/span><\/li>\n
  3. <\/span>Esther was separated and isolated from her people and cousin. While in the King’s Palace, she was surrounded by people, cultures and values that she was not accustomed to.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Esther was also described in Esther 2 to have a lovely figure and beautiful. Yet, she did not use that to her personal advantage but kept a low profile, without drawing attention to herself. She was thoughtful, wise, and took heed to Mordecai and Hegai, the King’s eunuch who watched over her.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Application:<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

    Esther as a young lady would have experienced the many emotions of one experiencing a trauma or a painful life event. In her case, it was not just one difficult life event but a series of traumatic experiences.<\/p>\n

    But Esther had a steadfast spirit. She seemed to be able to take all her experiences in her stride. She was not reactionary. She was “steady”. She lived a life that was anchored in God. She lived a life that was surrendered to God.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In the journey of life, do I have a steadfast spirit – anchored in God? Or have I been reacting to the smallest discomforts? <\/span><\/p>\n

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    Response:
    <\/strong><\/span>Heavenly Father,<\/span><\/p>\n

    May my prayer be like the Psalmist in Psalm 51:10 and 11:<\/p>\n

    “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”<\/p>\n

    Let not my heart be burdened and beaten down by the cares of the world. May my spirit be renewed daily and be steadfast for you. Amen.<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Pastor Gilbert Tan is Zone Pastor for PJ North 6. <\/p>\n

    Our Best Thought is a weekly devotional that follows DUMC’s Bible Reading Plan. Posts on Sundays.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Imagine that you are Esther from what we see in Esther 2. <\/p>\n

    1.Esther was orphaned. She did not have any other family members with her, other than her cousin Mordecai.
    \n2.Esther was like her fellow Jews who lost their home and taken into captivity into a foreign land.
    \n3.Esther was separated and isolated from her people and cousin. While in the King\u2019s Palace, she was surrounded by people, cultures and values that she was not accustomed to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9029"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9465,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9029\/revisions\/9465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}