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The book of Esther records the story of a young Jewish girl, orphaned at an early age and raised by her cousin, Mordecai. At the time when she was a young woman, the emperor "fired" his empress... And then a few days later, he regretted it. First lesson to be learned: Don't react out of anger! You will ALWAYS regret it!
Nonetheless, he now found himself without an empress. Apparently, however, this isn't as big of a problem as you and I might think! The solution is simple! Gather all the beautiful girls in the kingdom, give them all beauty treatments, then let them go in to the emperor, one at a time. The one he liked best would be his empress!
That's exactly what was done, and Esther, who, "...was lovely and beautiful..." (Esther 2:7 NKJV), was "...taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women." (Esther 2:8b NKJV).
Now before each girl went to be with the emperor, each was, "... given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace." (Esther 2:13 NKJV). We aren't told what the other girls took with them. We don't even know specifically what Esther took; but we are told that she: "... requested nothing but what Hegai ... advised." (Esther 2:15b NKJV)...
The result of her choice? "The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti." (Esther 2:17 NKJV)
Herein lies the lesson for today: If we want to be accepted by the king, we should only take with us what we are advised to take!
Wait, you mean you don't go in to see kings on a regular basis? Think again: Every time we enter into worship or prayer we go before our "King"! "Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray." (Psalms 5:2 NKJV).
Okay, so what, then, are we advised to wear?
Well not our own righteousness, for: "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV). Rather, we are told that when we give our hearts to Jesus, He takes away our filthy rags and gives us His righteousness: "For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness..." (Isaiah 61:10b NKJV).
Okay, have I taken the story of Esther too far? I mean, the Bible doesn't specify that she was the "chosen" because she followed Hegai's advice...
Let's jump ahead in our Bibles to Matthew 22. Here Jesus tells a parable of a great wedding feast. Unfortunately for the king, the invited guests didn't wish to come, so he sent out his servants, who, "... went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." (Matthew 22:10 NKJV).
Much could be said about this story, but it is what happens next that is important to this lesson. The people were expected to come appropriately dressed in "feast clothing". Unfortunately, one of the guests decided to not wear an appropriate garment: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" (Matthew 22:11-13 NKJV).
Wait. Why would it matter what we wear in the presence of our King?
"Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:1-2 NKJV).
The reason it matters is that our own sin separates us from God and makes it so He cannot hear our prayers. In order for our worship and our prayer to be acceptable in God's sight, we need to wear clothing that covers up our sin. We need the robe of righteousness that only comes from having accepted Jesus into our hearts!
It is only when we humble ourselves and accept Jesus' robe of righteousness that we are accepted and our prayers are heard!
Have you accepted the robe of Jesus' righteousness? Or are you still holding back, afraid to surrender everything to Him? If that describes you, then you are not properly clothed for approaching the King! What you "wear" really does matter!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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