📖 From the Bible
Mordecai sent Esther an answer: “Don’t think you’ll be safe in the palace when everyone else is in danger. If you stay quiet now, help will come from somewhere else. But you and your family will be lost. Who knows? Maybe you’re queen for exactly this moment.”
13Then Mordecai asked them to return this answer to Esther: “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews. 14For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
This is how we tell this passage to kids. The exact words of the Bible are under “As it is in the Bible”.
Esther 4:13-14 · Scripture: World English Bible Updated (public domain)
Someone in your class keeps picking on another kid. Everybody sees it. Everybody pretends they don’t. You see it too, and you think: somebody else will do something. Esther was in a spot like that once. Only for her, the whole life of her people was at stake.
Esther was the queen of a huge country, and she lived in a palace. Her cousin Mordecai had raised her. Then one day an important official named Haman came up with a bad plan. He wanted to hurt all the Jewish people in the whole country, and Esther’s people were Jewish. The king had already signed his order.
Mordecai asked Esther to go to the king and ask him for help. Esther got scared. In that country, nobody could walk in to see the king without being invited. Not even the queen! The punishment was very serious. The only way out was if the king held out his golden scepter. That’s a fancy stick, and it meant, “You may come closer.” And Esther hadn’t been invited in thirty days. Pretty scary, right?
Mordecai sent her an answer. “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews.” Then he added, “Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther thought about it for a while. Then she asked her people to go without food for three days and stand together with her. That was their way of showing how serious this was. After that, she went to the king. Her heart was probably pounding like crazy. The king looked at her. And he held out the golden scepter.
Did you know?
In the whole book of Esther, God’s name never shows up. Not one time. There are no miracles and no angels. And yet everything fits together as if somebody were quietly arranging it all. Esther ended up in the palace at exactly the moment she was needed most. It’s a little like a really good movie where you only see at the end that nothing was an accident. A little odd, isn’t it?
Look at Jesus
Esther was ready to risk everything to save her people. Many years later, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” And then He did exactly that. Jesus gave His life for us, and He is alive. So when you’re scared to stand up for someone, remember that Jesus is with you.
What about you?
Maybe today you’ll see someone getting laughed at. Or someone sitting all alone at recess. You might think: why me? Maybe you’re right there for a reason. You don’t have to do something huge. You can sit down next to them. You can say, “Stop it.” You can go get a grown-up. The first step is the hardest, but after that it gets easier.
Let’s talk about it
- Remember a time you saw someone who needed help, and everybody acted like they didn’t notice. What happened?
- What would help you take the first step when you’re scared? Or can you think of something else?
- Why did Esther ask the other people to stand with her?
Today’s challenge
Notice one person today who is alone or feeling sad. Go up to them and say one kind thing.
Prayer
God, sometimes I’m afraid to do something good when other people are watching. Give me courage when someone needs help. Help me not to look away, and help me take the first step. Amen.
Tap when you have prayed.