September 09,2022
Daily Devotion:
"Sufficiently Courageous to do Right Things"
Esther 1:12
New International Version
12 But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.
The wonderful story of Esther's legendary courage quite rightly bears her
name. As Mordecai predicted, Esther had indeed come into a royal icon for just such a crucial time. While God was obviously at work behind the scenes, it was Esther's courage in risking her life that saved a generation of Jews from what could have been the first holocaust. Yet Esther was not the only character in this inspiring story of courage. We must not overlook Queen Vashti and the pivotal role she also played in this historic episode. Without her extraordinary, never should've happened. Some might ask by what right Vashti refused the king's command. Whether Vashti was a “believer" is unclear. Yet sensing that the king wanted to display her physical beauty before his court in a drunkenly perverse and prideful way, Vashti rightly refused to lower herself to such a degrading display.
Vashti's resolute moral courage was rewarded by being made an example to all other wives. Wouldn't do for the
other women to follow her defiant, insubordinate ordinate lead, now would it! All the king and his officials could think about was making sure that men were the unchallenged “rulers" in their homes. The high moral ground prompting Vashti's "insubordination" would have been completely lost on them, as it so often is with those who are devoid of spiritual values. And not just them, but also with those of us who openly espouse spiritual values but-at points of critical testing lack the moral resolve of these two courageous women.
