3.215 Tragic Beginnings to a Great Story

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends, it's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. My friends, the story of Esther is one of the most well-known stories inside of the Old Testament, especially when looking at the impact that women played throughout the Old Testament.

But her story, as heroic of a story as it is, starts with a very tragic beginning. Perhaps there's a lesson inside of there for you and for me as we get looking into our reading this week, which is the book of Esther. Do you know where Esther came from?

We learn inside of the early verses here in telling the story of Esther that she comes from a difficult beginning. We don't get details too much, but I think the verse for today is a great place to start because of the framing and the lesson it can teach you and I when looking at the story of Esther. Esther chapter 2, verse 7 is where we get introduced to her and we get some critical details here into her life as everything gets started for her.

Verse 7 says: 'And he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The Maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.' Let's back up for just a second. We look at Esther's story as this heroic story and this beautiful story of no coincidences in the Lord's planning and how the Lord can put the right people in our lives at the right time, and how we can be those right people at the right time.

There are all these lessons we're going to get from the story of Esther this week. But where does it start? If we back up and we're living Esther's life, it starts with Esther losing her mom and her dad.

They both pass away and die and leave her. That's a tragic beginning. And I can't help but think about her in that moment of her life before the rest of the story plays out.

What does that mean for you and for me? Perhaps you're facing challenges right now that you don't see any sort of possible light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps you don't see yourself in the heroic shoes that Esther sits in now when we look at her story.

But my friends, that's not the rest of the story. And what's happening in your life right now is not the rest of the story. There's more story to come.

There's more of the Lord in that story if you'll let him be in there. And so as we get started inside of the book of Esther here and we get started with her story, these tragic beginnings are going to become an incredible patchwork of the Lord's hand coming to play. A piece here, a piece there, a little bit sewn together here, a little bit sewn together there.

Let the Lord do His work in your life and ultimately, maybe, just maybe, you end up with your own Queen story, your own saving the children of Israel story, because you turn to the Lord the way that Esther and Mordecai do in their story. What a great beginning to an exciting week as we dive into the book of Esther. That's all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. We'll get there. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.