One thing that I admire about kids is their ability to ask for help. Many of them can ask for help immediately without shame and without trying to do things on their own and failing. For example, my nephew, who just learned to play on the monkey bars, immediately knows when he needs an adult to help him down when he loses his grip. As adults, I wonder when we lose that carefree willingness to turn for help immediately. Instead, many of us spend much of our time trying to do things on our own until we have no option but to turn to someone for help. Perhaps our willingness to ask for help increases with the severity of the situation. Maybe that is why Esther immediately turned to God and her fellow Jewish people when she stepped into the riskiest situation of her life, trying to save the Jewish people.
When the Jewish people in Persia were at risk of being destroyed due to a decree that all Jews be destroyed that Haman, the king's chief official, had convinced the king to sign, Esther had a decision to make: would she help or keep her Jewish identity a secret and stay silent at this impending destruction of the Jews in Persia. Her cousin Mordecai convinced her to help. Before she did anything, however, she asked for help. She said to Mordechai: "Go and gather all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids will do the same” (verse 16). Esther knew that she needed help if she was going to approach the king and if there was any hope of convincing the king to save the Jews. So she turned to God, and she turned to her people, prompting them to turn to God for help too.
When we face impossible situations, unsure of what to do and where to start, we need to ask for help. First, we need to ask God, who can do anything, for help. We must ask for His power, provision, and plan to show through. Then, we need to turn to others for help. We need to ask them to turn to God on our behalf and then allow them to help in any way they can. We were not meant to live life on our own. We were meant to turn to God for help.
Think back to that task God has called you to do that feels impossible. Today, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to ask for help. First, ask God. Ask Him to help you have courage and to be successful as you take steps toward obedience today. Then, ask people in your life who can help you in the calling God has given you. You are not alone as you seek to obey the calling that God has given you.
“All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days.” 12 So Hathach gave Esther’s message to Mordecai.
13 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” 17 So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him."
