Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”   Psalm 34:7

 What’s the most challenging dinner invitation you’ve ever made? I’ve had a few. I can remember the first time my husband invited someone from the mission over. He told me later that our house was the first non-Latino house they’d ever visited. If I’d known that before I think I would have been super intimidated. Representing my entire culture and heritage in one dinner is a bit much! And then he and my son decided it would be fun to dub Tuesdays, “Invite your local drug dealer for dinner day.” No, that didn’t happen a lot, but when it did, it was interesting! I’ve certainly had lots of people who were important to us over for dinner, but I can’t think of a time when I’ve had a person of worldly status or notoriety over, then again, I’m not a queen.

 Reading through today’s verses in Esther (5:1-5), I’m convinced that the idea of inviting the king for a banquet came to her over the course of fasting and praying for three days. If it were me, or indeed most people I think, when greeted by the king with, “What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you,” (Esther 5:3b) I think I would have asked for my life and the life of my people right there. But no, God knew how things needed to play out and He directed Esther’s path.

 What’s my take-away from this? Sometimes God shows us a path that is different than we anticipated or even desired, but it is always in our best interest to take His advice! Haman had so ingratiated himself to the king, that they were best buds. The king had trusted him with everything, given him his signet ring to grant him authority in the kingdom. Yes, Esther was the queen, but it hardly seemed that she and the king were close if they hadn’t seen each other for over a month at that point! On the contrary, it sounded like the king and Haman hung out every day. Coming before the king and making a wild accusation about his best buddy in the middle of the throne room could have gone very badly. But I think that’s why Esther sought to spend the three days in prayer before approaching the king, so that God would give her the best directions and soften the king’s heart toward her.

Here's the Thing: God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). God always knows better. No, things aren’t always going to make sense to us, but then again, my situations don’t always make sense to me either! I have found time and time again that just listening to Him and doing what He directs always works out for the best!


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