March 15 Urgent Plea

Esther 7:1-5 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” 
 
HAVE you noticed within the word “please” is the word “plea”? The words have very different meanings, but even so, it is fascinating to understand their relationship. Esther shows the connection. As we plea – petition, request, pray – for a particular thing to happen, we are to speak in a way that pleases the one to whom we plea.
    Our Lord requires we pray to him with a contrite and loving heart. He commands our hearts be authentic to understand he is Lord. We must, then, plea our desires in submission to his will to be done in our lives. We plea that we may live lives pleasing to him.
    Although Esther’s plea was not to the Lord, Esther knew very well the power of the one to whom she was pleading. She certainly knew she was in the king’s presence that day because years before, he had become enraged when Queen Vashti ignored his request (See Esther 1.) Esther also knew she would be accusing Haman, the king’s hand-picked second-in-command. Even more, Esther is unveiling her true identity to the king. This will be his first knowledge that she is a Jew. One could say, I suppose, that she had three strikes against her.
    Esther, the girl from the country, is speaking to the man who reigns in extraordinary power over all the world she knows. Her plea goes to a king who can speak death and life to anyone he desires for any reason he claims.
    Graciously King Ahasuerus responded. Esther has approached the king in extreme humility as she said, “If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent.” She used the words of the decree: “to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated” (Esther 3:13a) Esther spoke in truth without exaggeration, and Esther was true to her ordained purpose to plea to the king that her people would be saved.
    Who do you know who needs to be saved? One good way to plea before God for the souls of loved ones is to use his true Word. Praying Scripture is an effective way to please God as you plea for your true desires. Esther was humble. She was focused on her people. Her purpose was lofty and life-giving. Your prayers are to be in this same form.
 
Prayer. In your name, Father, I pray you will turn __________’s heart to “believe in the Lord Jesus, so _____________ and all the household will be saved.” In Jesus’ name, amen.