Christian Devotional – October 20, 2020

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #3

The problem. With all of the grandeur of the party, the king still had a problem. He wanted to show off his Queen the way he had shown off everything else. However, his Queen wouldn’t come. Read Esther 1:10-15.

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him. Then the king said to the wise men who understood the times-for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king’s presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom- “According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”
Esther 1:10‭-‬15 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/est.1.10-15.NASB

With the Queen’s refusal, the king didn’t know what to do. It may have been the first time anyone had ever told him no. She would not come and now the king needed to decide how he was going to respond.

When we face problems or situations that are unusual to us, how do we respond? The king sought advice from his advisors and the wise men around him. Who do we seek advice from? Do we recognize that the advice we get from them is going to be a reflection of who they are? When we look around us and evaluate those that we take advice from, do we include only those who are seeking the Lord themselves?

We are going to get advice from people that will be based on what they themselves believe. We need to make sure that their beliefs match up with our understanding of the truth of scripture. The problem is nothing if the solution isn’t focused on bringing glory to God. Where do we seek our solutions?