When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter. Esther 5:2
Esther was truly placing her life in God’s hands because the king had not summoned for her and without a summons entering the kings presence meant death. There are several reasons given for Esther to call for a fast, protection, changing the kings mind about her and the decree. But I believe Esther wanted them to pray for courage and strength for her go into the kings court. Think about what she knew, the king apparently was displeased with her for something for he hadn’t called to see her for thirty days. This time period began after Haman’s suggestion to destroy the Jews became a decree. So we can only imagine her first thought was she was found out by him that she too was a Jew. But no matter what the reason, she knew she needed help, because there seemed to be no way out no matter what she did. But she knew God made her Queen and she also believed He would help her to fulfill her purpose for being in that position.
When Esther entered that inner court you can bet the air got sucked out of the room. But in spite of protocol, the king welcomed her and held out his scepter to give her access to him and once she touched it, she was received. And then she invited him and Haman to a dinner, which by the way was such a huge success, she offered him another one. It was a the second banquet that when asked by the king what she wanted; she revealed that her people were going to be annihilated without any way to defend themselves. The king became furious and wanted to know who would do that. It was then she pointed her delicate finger at Haman. The king then ordered him and his sons to be killed on the gallows he made for Mordecai.
But this wasn’t over, because Persian law could not be reversed, not even by the king. However, he could write a new law to counter that one, and it was so the Jews could defend themselves against their attackers. And defend themselves they did with the help and power of God. Interestingly the name God was never mentioned in the Book of Esther but His handprint was all over it.
There are so many takeaways from this account, but the one that touches my heart is the picture of Esther being in an impossible situation and seeing herself as unworthy to enter into the kings presence, where help and protection might be waiting but she wasn’t sure. She became encouraged and emboldened to go into the king, only to find a smile, open arms and holding out his scepter for her to accept him and all that was his. Isn’t that just like us, we know God has the help we need, but we feel we can’t go into His presence, but then we are encouraged to go to Him. There we find a warm welcome and open arms to run into and find more help and love than we could ever imagine. For in His presence is fulness of joy.
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