Esther
The book of Esther is a book of God's providence. God is not mentioned AT ALL in this book but we see Him and His faithfulness everywhere.
Uncle Ser Choon went through the acronyms ABPGR with us to give us the background on when the book was written and which empire Esther's story happened. We were made to do some heavy reading on the book of Esther itself and everybody were assigned a chapter. We all provided a summary of what we read and pieced together the story of Esther.
Esther was a beautiful girl. She was an orphan and Mordecai adopted her. Esther won the king's favor with her winsome ways and of course, her good looks. People inevitably liked her. Esther also did not make known her status because her people were in bondage at that time. Esthter and her people met with a crisis from chapter 3 to 4 and sought help from mature mentors. This crisis also saw the testing and moulding of Estther's character.
Lessons we can learn from the way Esther handled her crisis:
- She showed initial hesistation (chpt 4:10-11)
- Mordecai provided counsel and mentoring (chpt 4:12-14)
- Esther took concrete and decisive steps (chpt 4:15-16)
- She was selfless (chpt 5:1-2)
How can we apply Esther's story? We were broken into 2 groups, male and female, and told to discuss the notion "Beauty is only skin deep..." in the male and female perspective. All in all, Im sure we agree that beauty does play a part and provides the opportunities for favour with people. This goes the same for good looking men. However, we agree that beauty and good looks need to be followed up with good character traits. If God were to bestow upon us good looks, we will have to make use of this to win favor for his kingdom.
I liked the way Uncle Ser Choon finished up this phrase. "When the going gets tough, the tough goes to God." The world thinks of tough people as people who can manage and ride through crisis with their own strength. Its not the same for God's people. We can be sure that when crisis is too much for us too bear, we CAN and SHOULD always turn to God.
Uncle Ser Choon went through the acronyms ABPGR with us to give us the background on when the book was written and which empire Esther's story happened. We were made to do some heavy reading on the book of Esther itself and everybody were assigned a chapter. We all provided a summary of what we read and pieced together the story of Esther.
Esther was a beautiful girl. She was an orphan and Mordecai adopted her. Esther won the king's favor with her winsome ways and of course, her good looks. People inevitably liked her. Esther also did not make known her status because her people were in bondage at that time. Esthter and her people met with a crisis from chapter 3 to 4 and sought help from mature mentors. This crisis also saw the testing and moulding of Estther's character.
Lessons we can learn from the way Esther handled her crisis:
- She showed initial hesistation (chpt 4:10-11)
- Mordecai provided counsel and mentoring (chpt 4:12-14)
- Esther took concrete and decisive steps (chpt 4:15-16)
- She was selfless (chpt 5:1-2)
How can we apply Esther's story? We were broken into 2 groups, male and female, and told to discuss the notion "Beauty is only skin deep..." in the male and female perspective. All in all, Im sure we agree that beauty does play a part and provides the opportunities for favour with people. This goes the same for good looking men. However, we agree that beauty and good looks need to be followed up with good character traits. If God were to bestow upon us good looks, we will have to make use of this to win favor for his kingdom.
I liked the way Uncle Ser Choon finished up this phrase. "When the going gets tough, the tough goes to God." The world thinks of tough people as people who can manage and ride through crisis with their own strength. Its not the same for God's people. We can be sure that when crisis is too much for us too bear, we CAN and SHOULD always turn to God.
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