Placed for a Purpose (The Book of Esther): Nana Dolce

Go to the Father. Whatever you're facing today, whatever you're confused by, whatever threatens you, go to the Father.

He's holding up his scepter and he's pleased for you to come to his throne. Welcome to Family Life Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Shelby Abbott and your hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson. You can find us at familylifetoday.com. This is Family Life Today. Okay, we're back in the middle of a cliffhanger story.

You're right. With our guest, Nada Dulce, who's a Bible scholar, expert, teacher. We love to hear you teach the Word of God. I feel like we can just throw any name and any story and just, boom, you're going to enlighten us.

That's what it feels like. Nada, it's great to have you back. Thank you. We finished yesterday with the story of Esther. We're right in the middle of it. We are.

Just as a reminder, Nada is a teacher. She's a homeschooler. I am. And you've been married how many years? It'll be 16 years, August 2nd.

You're getting some years under your belt in your marriage. We're getting on. Take us back into Esther. Yeah. Why don't you give us a little summary of what we talked about yesterday and then let's keep going in the story.

Absolutely. We're in the scariest part of the story. We have this man named Mordecai who takes his cousin as his daughter.

She goes into the king's harem and is chosen to be the queen. This character named Haman comes almost out of nowhere, but he's instantly an enemy and someone opposing the Jews because Mordecai is choosing to obey a higher king and not submitting to Haman and not bowing down to Haman. So he influences the king to put a command together to destroy every Jewish person, man, woman, child, destroy their property from all 127 provinces of the Persian empire. This is a genocide of the Jewish people.

It is. Because he hates them. He does. And he has no idea Esther, who is now the queen, is Jewish. Yes.

Yes. In this part of the book, it says the Jewish people were weeping and mourning and Mordecai puts on sackcloth and is weeping. And Esther hears about it and she is concerned, sends clothes to him like, change your clothes.

And he's like, my clothes is the least of our worries right now. He sends her a copy of the edict so she can read it for herself and gives her a command. And remember, so far, Esther has always obeyed Mordecai. So he gives her a command to go to the king, plead for the life of your people. And for the first time in our narrative, Esther hesitates. She's not quick to obey Mordecai in the way that we've seen.

Why do you think? Well, there's another edict. Remember, Xerxes is this king who's supposed to be so fierce that he puts out these commands that cannot be revoked and you can't approach his throne room without an invitation. Or you will die.

Right. The sentence is death. You will perish unless he holds a scepter and pardons you so that you can come before him. I mean, I suppose it's sort of like I'm thinking I live in D.C. We see sometimes you're driving and you see the motorcade, right, and the presidential motorcade. I can't just go up to the president of the United States and tap on his door.

Without having some trouble from some scary looking people. So you can't just, you know, go into his presence. And so Esther is reluctant to obey Mordecai, who has really been like a parent, like a father to her.

And so she explains this to him and he gives a response. So he says in Esther 4, 13 to 14, he says this. Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

There it is. I love what he says for a couple of reasons. The first thing is Mordecai is so certain that relief will rise. He's not saying, Esther, this depends on you. You have to save us.

You have to muster up your courage and you have to go. Because if you don't, the Jewish people will perish. Mordecai knows that there is a higher king whose purposes cannot be overcome.

Relief will come for the Jews. But Esther, what if he has placed you in this position to use you for that purpose? Mordecai's words seem to convince Esther. And for the first time in the narrative, instead of him telling Esther to do something, she turns around and she is asking him to do something. And that something is pray for me. I love this part.

Yeah. Gather the covenant community, fast and pray for me. Me and my ladies, we will pray as well. I will go and if I perish, I perish. This is what I want for my daughters.

Me too. I want my daughters to come to a place where they're not obeying daddy and they're not obeying mommy just because we're saying so. But they come to a place where they are so sure of the promises of that higher father, of that higher king, that even if it means putting themselves at risk or doing something very dangerous and scary, that they're willing to do it.

That they're actually turning around and saying, mommy and daddy, I have a request for you. Partner with me in prayer. I want to be empowered through prayer to do hard things. I love the fact that that's where she went first because I don't know what you're like, Nana, but sometimes I can scheme and plan in my own strategies, in my own mind of thinking, how could I do this? What can we do instead of first going to God?

That's the first place she went. Like, if I'm going to do this, I cannot do it until first we have all prayed and fasted and sought God in the matter. Man, I'm just thinking of so many of us. Like, are you a person that's the planner and the strategizer or are you the person that falls on your face before God and say, I need wisdom. I need your direction.

I need you to guide me. That's what Esther did. Absolutely.

What do you love about her? I feel like at this point in the narrative, Esther really shines. Yeah. You know, the book doesn't dwell on Esther herself. It's named after her.

Yeah. But she doesn't show up in every chapter. But right here, that little girl who either was raised in Susa or, you know, listened to her uncle who was like a father. The orphan. That wasn't her identity.

Yeah. She becomes the queen of Persia and she becomes a member of the covenant community. And she is fearing a king higher than Xerxes and looking to him through prayer to be her help. And she goes not knowing if she will survive or not. She says, if I perish, I perish. That was actually very brave and very courageous. And I wonder, you know, as parents, if your daughters or if our kids or anyone's kids, when they're old enough to say, God is calling me to a very dangerous mission where I could perish.

How do we respond as parents? We want that our whole life. I want them to fully serve God and do whatever he calls. But then it's like, wait, wait, wait, you're going to the mountains of Afghanistan to give away Bibles to people that kill people that give away Bibles?

That's what God's called me to do, Mom. I mean, that's a scary place to say, okay, I can trust the king above the king. Oh, that's so true. Because when it comes to our children, we get so protective.

And yet don't we want them to walk with him, to know him, that makes us trust our God. Yeah, it's so true. Yeah. I mean, I can say this and say I won this for my kids. Oh, but I love my babies.

Oh, and I don't want anything. Of course, I don't want them to suffer in any way. But I think one of the things I'm learning more and more, and especially actually being a mom through adoption has blessed me to see this more and more, that my children are not ultimately mine. They're my kids, but they're not given to me for my purposes.

I'm not writing the story for their life. The safest place my kids can be is in God's will and is in his providence and his sovereignty, what he's planned for them. That's the safest place.

I might think the safest place is keeping them in my house forever. The safest place for Esther, and Mordecai says it, if you don't do anything, relief will come, but you and your family will perish. The safest place was not in her obedience to Xerxes. The safest place was her obedience to that higher king, whose name is never mentioned, and yet he's all over this story. And Esther realizing that and choosing to obey him and trust him is what led, right, not to her perishing, but to her saving all of the Jewish people.

Don't give it away. Oh, my goodness, I just did, didn't I? Well, I mean, there's another thought that hit me when you think about King Xerxes and God. I know for the first 20 years of my life, I thought whenever I tried to approach God, it was like he was a mean king, that if he didn't want me in his presence, he could kill me and never kill me. But I always felt, and there should be reverence and fear. Scared, a little bit of scare. There should be some of that, but mine was complete fear. It wasn't love or grace that I could approach the throne with boldness.

Hebrews 4, it was more I came in afraid he's going to get me. You know what I mean? Sort of like- You didn't know he was a good guy.

I didn't know that. And I mean, these two kings right here that we're talking about, the one that's unmentioned, but he's a loving grace who's going to actually save them in the end. Oh, you gave it away too. Come on, man. Okay, we're not going to give it away. Most of us know this Bible story. Tell us what happened.

I'm just teasing. So if I perish, I perish. What happened? She walks in after three days of fasting and it says that he sees her at the entrance and he is pleased with her and he extends the scepter. And she walks in and he actually says, Queen Esther, what do you want? Up to half my kingdom.

It will be yours. And she says, I want you to come to a banquet and I want you to bring Haman with you. And Haman is so excited to be invited to this banquet. He goes home and brags to his wife and his friends. And he says, you know, the only thing getting on my nerves is that Mordecai. And they say build a gallows, huge gallows to hang him on.

So he does that. Because he hates Mordecai so much. So he already has this promise from the king that all the Jews are going to be destroyed, but he can't even wait for that.

He has to build a gallows to hang Mordecai. So he does so, goes to the banquet, and then Esther says, hey, come back tomorrow for another banquet. And it's at this banquet that she reveals herself to be one of the Jewish people. Why do you think she didn't do that at the first banquet? You know what? It's an excellent question. I know that Xerxes likes to drink and when he drinks, his emotions come out. I wonder if she wanted one more day before she revealed it.

I'm not sure. The text doesn't say, but after they finish drinking at the second banquet, she reveals herself to be one of the Jewish people and says, we have an enemy. And this is what he's done. And the king is like, who is this enemy? This wicked Haman. And the king is enraged. He steps out and he's begging for his life. And just as he falls on the cushion where Esther is sitting, the king walks in and says, will he even assault the queen in my presence?

And then someone jumps in because if this was a play, it would be hilarious. Someone jumps in and says, you know, he has this gallows that he built for Mordecai, who, by the way, saved your life by identifying some assassins earlier in the story. And the king says, hang him on that.

So Haman seems so scary. He plans this genocide and yet his plans are frustrated time and time again. And the very gallows he had built, he thought he was building it for Mordecai. He didn't know he was constructing his own death instrument that day.

He is hung on that. And later on, his 10 sons will be killed as well. And Esther does become the one that God had positioned in history for such a time as this. But I love it wasn't just Esther that saved her people. I keep thinking and going back to the prayer and the fasting of the people. It was like they were one unit together going before God with their voices lifted up like, Father, save us. But God had placed Esther in that position. I wonder what position God has placed you in.

Like, where are you right now? You might feel like he doesn't see you. He doesn't know.

He does. And he wants to use you right where you are. How have you applied this to your life, Nana, as you listen to this story and read it? It goes back to what Dave said for me of being someone who maybe sees God as a really mighty king that I can't just approach. You know, the book that I wrote tells the narratives of women. But my hope is to point to someone even beyond these women. And so there is someone who is an even better mediator than Esther. How do we see Jesus in this story?

Right. He is the mediator who chose to approach God's throne on our behalf. We do not obey that king, that highest king perfectly. And Jesus, the only one who obeys perfectly, goes before him with all our disobedience.

Esther didn't perish, but Jesus did. But then he resurrects to usher us into that throne. Not as subjects who have to go trembling and scared, but as children who can walk confidently into the throne room of God.

So if you're listening and maybe you had, you know, what Dave just said, which certainly I've had that too. You know, I grew up in a very morally strict household. So even as I thought of Mordecai and someone being, raising someone who's very obedient, I obeyed not out of love, but out of fear.

I was raised by people who sounded like Xerxes, that big bad wolf who was huffing and puffing to make me obey. And so there was a time when I saw God like that. In Christ, we have a king that we can walk confidently to his throne. And he receives us, he holds up the scepter and he's pleased with us because Jesus went before us and he was struck. He perished for our disobedience and resurrected to usher us without any fear. We can go to him and we can obey him out of joy and out of love. He empowers us with his spirit and enables us to obey and to pray. So go to the Father, whatever you're facing today, whatever you're confused by, whatever threatens you, go to the Father.

He's holding up his scepter and he's pleased for you to come to his throne. Yeah, I think when we understand that, there's not only a peace, but a confidence that comes in the fact that we understand we are worthy. Because he says we're worthy to approach him with boldness and grace and receive that. And here's my point, if we understand we're worthy and confident, then we can attack moments in our life for such a time as this.

Because that phrase obviously lives on. You wonder in what way the days we're living in right now, personally and individually, God wants to do something great through us like he did through Esther. In a sense, we're like Esther. It's like, this is my moment. I can change a legacy.

I can approach a situation and say, this is right, this is wrong. We have to take action. As a pastor, it can lead a community of people to a greater vision and impact the world.

It's now. I'm thinking too of parents, of the impact you're having on your kids. I think about you, Nana, have you read this book with your girls?

Yeah, my wonderful husband. His hope is that we would read through the Bible at least three times by the time our eldest is 18. And so we've read through all of the Old Testament, all the New Testament, and then we circle back again. So we've read the Book of Esther together. And what about this book that you've written about the women of the Bible? Are they intrigued by the women?

Yeah, they are. One of the things I mentioned last time I was here was my 10-year-old asking why the Bible seems to be about men. I guess she didn't hear enough, maybe enough sermons or enough teaching about the women of Scripture. And so she was like, it seems to be mainly about men.

So yes, I taught this to the young women at our church, but I also wanted my own little women to see that, no, the Bible is about men and women that God uses ultimately to tell the biggest story about his son. Do you two women ever feel like you're an Esther? Have you ever had moments in your life where you're like, I think God is calling me like he did Esther for such a time as this in whatever area, whether it's in where you live, it's in your family, it's in your legacy, it's as a mom, as a wife.

I'm just throwing it out there and just wondering. Yeah, the thing that comes to my mind is, so I hinted a little bit at this earlier, that I grew up in a household that sometimes felt scary. There were moments where I felt like I had to walk on eggshells and say just the right thing and do just the right thing. I was very obedient, but my obedience was out of fear.

There are places where I see that with Esther a little bit. So she's obeying, but there's this fear of I want to do the right thing. I want to obey Mordecai. I want to obey Xerxes. When we come to this point in the narrative where she's willing to do something, even if she perishes.

So she prays and she says, I will do this hard thing, trusting in God. I will obey you, Mordecai, but ultimately my obedience is to the Lord himself. So I want to be an Esther in that way.

I want to be a woman who doesn't make decisions out of fear, who doesn't make cultural decisions. Because even in the culture we live in today, it can be scary to say the wrong thing to the wrong person in the wrong way. There can be a lot of wrath that comes your way. And it can be courageous to say, you know, I'm going to say this truth because scripture says it.

And I'm going to say it out of love. And I'm going to say it in gentleness, fearing a higher king or fearing the higher authority being in his pleasure over people pleasing. And so more and more and more, I want to be a woman who obeys God and who makes decisions not out of fear of men, whether it's people in my family or people in the community, but out of a greater fear of God. I think I have felt that raising our boys. I remember hearing a woman say to me, isn't it amazing to think that God chose you to raise these three kids?

And I remember feeling like I'm so inept. I don't have what it takes. I don't have the spiritual background. My family, we weren't believers growing up. And this woman said to me, and yet he still chose you because there's something in you that your children need. And the parts of you that he wants to give away are going to be gifts that you give to them.

Like only you can give those things. And I remember I felt this excitement, this fear, this like, oh, I felt this responsibility to disciple them, to love them, to nurture them and push them toward Jesus. And I felt this like, whoa, I have something in me with the gospel and with Jesus and discipleship.

I can pass that along. And my prayer was always, and Father, will you use them to mark and change their generation for you? And so now as they're grown men and doing some amazing things for Jesus, honestly, which is only through prayer, I feel like now I have that same kind of burden for women. That I want women to understand the greatness, the power, the influence they carry that changes a home, that changes a marriage, that changes a community, that changes the world. I feel like there's a battle going on over us because Satan does not want us to live out our God-given identity and our calling in our lives. Whether we're single, married, kids, no kids, God has something so great for you.

And it might need be the great that our culture says it great. It could be serving in a capacity that nobody sees you. And yet when you're surrendered to the King of Kings, you are changing your world for Jesus in the way he has made you to do that. But I think women feel like God can't use me. And I would just say he can use you.

He wants to use you. I look at Esther and think, here's this little girl who was an orphan. We're not sure why and how she became an orphan. And yet I bet she thought many times, I bet God can't use me. He used her and her community to save an entire people group, the Jewish people. So I guess I do feel that a little bit.

I knew that fire was going to come out. Here's the last thing I would add, at least for you. As I think about you and your family, you were the Esther of the barren legacy. Even the fact that as a young woman, Nana, you don't know this, but her dad is a very...

He's passed now, but he was my high school coach. And he's a patriarch. He is a strong man who... A self-made man. Self-made man who had his way and the family obeyed and lived under that. Not a tyrant, a loving man, but there were no...

But no spiritual... No flexibility. And so when Ann and I started dating and got on our knees when we got engaged to say, we're praying that God uses us to lead their whole family to Christ because they weren't followers. I mean, it's this woman that went to... And my sister. Yeah, but really you on fire went to her dad and said, Dad, you will perish without Jesus. And he didn't want to hear that. And yet you go 30 years later, the whole family are followers of Christ.

Praise God. Because an Esther like Ann, you had the Esther strength to say, for such a time as this, this is the time, this is the moment, this either happens or it doesn't. And your dad could have said, I don't want you in my house anymore if you're going to talk like that.

A number of times where he did say, I don't want to hear that. And before any of you think, wow, she's amazing, I just want you to know I came in my house as a 19-year-old saying, we're all going to hell unless we don't have Jesus. So I may not have done it at the beginning in the most attractive, palatable kind of way. But I think later on they saw my zeal and my love for Jesus and yours too, Dave. And maybe the listener today is like, maybe God wants to use me as an Esther in my family legacy. Maybe I'm the one that could use my life, my actions, my voice, and change the course of history. A beautiful story there that you might be thinking is beyond you and your family. But no, if you're a follower of Christ, if you're a Christian, the spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is the same spirit who lives within you and with him anything is possible.

Anything is. I loved hearing that great end cap today to our time, and I want you to know that God can work in your family the same way. He can work in you the same way. I'm Shelby Abbott, and you've been listening to Dave and Anne Wilson with Nana Dulce on Family Life Today. So if you enjoyed the conversation or the one you heard yesterday with Nana, and maybe you want to learn more about God's loving control over all things, over everything, you can get this content in a unique and special format. Nana and Dave and Anne have some exciting news for you. So I'm so glad that our discussion today is going to be packaged in an email series that will go out to listeners. This is a pretty exciting deal.

Oh yeah, I don't know if we've ever done this. So you can go to familylifetoday.com, and you can find the link there in the show notes, and you can watch it. And you're going to have questions. This is a great little opportunity we're giving you to dive deeper into this series on making sense of the unexpected. So again, you can sign up for the email series, a four-week video series with Nana Dulce. Just head over to familylifetoday.com, or you can find it in the show notes. And I wanted to make sure that you know to stay tuned for day three of Nana Dulce coming up tomorrow in our special series with her. And make sure you go back and listen to the past episodes with Nana Dulce talking about the seed of the woman.

You'll find it all in the show notes section on familylifetoday.com. And she's written a book called The Seed of the Woman, 30 Narratives That Point to Jesus. This book that she's written is going to be our gift to you when you give to Family Life Today. You can get your copy right now with any donation by going online and giving at familylifetoday.com and clicking on the donate now button at the top of the page. Or you can just give us a call with your donation at 800-358-6329. Again, that number is 800-F as in family, L as in life, and then the word today. And feel free to drop your donation in the mail to us if you'd like.

Our address is Family Life, 100 Lakehart Drive, Orlando, Florida, 32832. Have you ever wondered how God could turn bitterness into redemption? Maybe you're someone who struggles with bitterness yourself and you're wondering, how can God ever redeem this? Well, tomorrow Nana Dulce is back to talk about Naomi's story in the Book of Ruth as she went from bitterness to redemption. That's coming up tomorrow. We hope you'll join us. On behalf of David Ann Wilson, I'm Shelby Abbott. We'll see you back next time for another edition of Family Life Today. Family Life Today is a donor-supported production of Family Life, a crew ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most.