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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Reasons to encourage youth to pursue the Lord



Esther 2:5-7 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

A Quick Introduction to the Book of Esther
The Book of Esther is an interesting book in that we're not told who wrote it.  Furthermore, the name of God is never mentioned once.  Regardless of those two traits, the Book of Esther bears the marks of Divine inspiration and the presence and providence of God is clearly operating through all of its pages.  The heroes of the story are Mordecai and his much younger cousin Hadassah (Esther).  The villain attempting to destroy the Jewish people is Haman.  The plot unfolds around the antagonism that Haman has towards Mordecai and his plot to destroy the Jews.  The King who falls in love with Esther is Ahashuerus (identified in history as Xerxes I).  Through the efforts of Esther and Mordecai God Providentially foils the plot of Haman, with Haman being hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai.  

With that brief introduction to Esther, we now will turn specifically to one of the key elements of the account: Mordecai's Godly encouragement of Esther.  Why must you and I, dear Christian, offer Godly encouragement to our young people to pursue the Lord? Note the two thoughts below:

1. Call of God
From what we saw already in Esther 2:5-7, Mordecai was raising up Esther.  As the plot of the book unfolds, we read these words in Esther 3:8 "Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain."  Haman's words would soon become an edict sent by the King in Esther 3:13 "Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder."

The plot was underway, however God providentially had arranged Esther to have favor with the king.  As events were unfolding, she had come to have the ability to gain an audience with the King.  The only issue was that she was a Jewess keeping her identity secret from the King.  Mordecai informs her that she needs to plead with the King on behalf of the people to stop the horrible plot, lest the whole nation perish.  Esther's famous response is recorded in Esther 4:16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

We must encourage the next generation to pursue the Lord because we never know whom he is calling to serve Him.  God used Esther in a mighty way to save her people.  So encourage young people to follow the Lord because of God's calling and secondly...

2. The Cause of the Kingdom
As we already mentioned, Haman's plot to destroy the Jews had been providentially overturned, resulting in Haman's death.  In Esther 9:28-29 we read these words about Esther - "So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants.
29 Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim."

This young lady was called by God to advance the cause of His Kingdom.  Because of God's work through Esther's courage and grace driven motivation that the Jewish people were saved.  It was to be through the Jews that God would send His Son into the world to be the Savior.  

Conclusion
We never know how God is going to advance His kingdom, nor at times the people He will choose to use.  However whenever those two things come together, the surprise is always pleasant and God gets the glory.  Encouraging our young people to pursue the Lord is worth it, due to the calling He may be having on their lives and the cause of the Kingdom purposes He wants to accomplish.