Of Drunkeness, Anger and True Beauty

King Ahasuerus

"...King Ahasuerus... remembered Vashti"

So King Ahasuerus, doubtlessly drunk, is throwing a party, and things are going great.  The only thing missing are… women.  Beautiful women.  “Ah Vashti, where’s Vashti.  Someone get me Vashti!”  Well Vasti doesn’t come, Ahasuerus gets angry, and is advised to… divorce her, and he does.  But as life would have it, we don’t stay drunk and angry forever and the things done during those spells often bring regret.  So King Ahasuerus remembers Vashti, and you get a keen sense that he’s sorry.  But he’d gone too far and things got really complicated. Implications abound for our Church today.

http://theglorystory.com/html/estherpictures.htm

Notwithstanding the high divorce rate within the Church today, we really are not at liberty to do as king Ahasuerus did; trade in your spouse for another. He probably started to miss her and so this is where he should have said, "I'm sorry," and made up. Just one big problem, he had made a decree, and the laws of the Medes and Persians don't change. Lessons?

1.                   Don't be hasty to do things you may well regret, but can't undo. I have a brother who would always say, "I don't eat rice while it's hot." In other words, he's not hasty and rash, so he'll have little to regret and must say, "I'm sorry" for.

2.                   Don't treat your ego as the Medes and Persians treated the king's decrees; be willing to disregard it and learn to say....

3.                   Learn to say, "I'm sorry." Many a divorce would be avoided if only someone would have used those two or three words, "I'm sorry; I am sorry."

More on Esther

"Luck," they say, "is where opportunity meets preparation." But rightly understood, this is no luck; it is rightly the outcome from deliberate effort.

 

True beauty goes deeper than mere physical features; it is an attitude; a certain aura that one exudes. This comes by training and socialization. And herein lies the value of Mordecai's mentorship of Esther; he had trained her to be a lady of no common or ordinary bearing; she walked and behaved with a definite regal demeanour. No wonder she stood out to Hegai at first, and later to the king. What a standard for how our young should be trained today! Each should know, "I'm a child of the King of kings; I must therefore walk with a certain stride, and bearing."

Father, we have such a long way to go, but thank You for the revelation in Your word today; in Jesus' name, amen.

Today's reading is based on Esther 2.  To read and/or listen to this chapter and read other related blogs go here.