The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have a Bible Edge
Esther 4:16
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
We often read the Bible like a textbook, but its pages are filled with real life people who faced real life issues just like we do. Consider Esther. At the time when she was going through this trial, she did not know if she would perish or not. We know she wouldn’t and didn’t, but she did not know it. Not at the time she uttered those immortal words; …if I perish, I perish. Job didn’t know that God was going to give him double all that he lost. Moses didn’t know that the Red Sea would part. Gideon did not know that the Midianites would be trounced after his 300 yelled “The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” Neither did Joshua know that the walls around Jericho would tumble when the priest blew on their trumpets and the people shouted for victory. None of these knew what the outcome would be; that is until they did it.
Esther was put in a unique position to help save her people from extinction, but she had to face the risk of death to do so. To her it was real. They prayed and fasted, but still the human condition of the fear of the unknown was real to her. She had no guarantee that the king would accept her, unannounced, in the throne room. She faced death in the eye and still carried on saying…if I perish I perish.
There was a new preacher in a town; on his own testimony he related this story. There was a lady in his church that had an unbelieving husband. The husband said that if the preacher ever came to his house, he would kill him. His wife had every reason to believe him and told the new pastor the same. The preacher became burdened for that man and decided to make a visit to his house on a Thursday night. He prayed about it, his children prayed about it, it is unknown if they fasted or not. When Thursday night came, he was at the door of the lost man’s house. When the man came to the door, the preacher said, “I’ve heard that if I came to your house to speak to you about Christ that you would kill me. If you are, hurry up and get it over with, if not let’s go in, sit down and talk awhile.” I believe that the preacher led that man to Christ, if not that night later on. Today the pastor is in Heaven. He had an …if I perish, I perish moment. It was as real to him on that Thursday as it was to Esther so many thousands of years ago.
In this series “Life Lessons Learned from Great People” Esther stands out as a worthy example of John Wayne’s famous quote: “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” Sometimes, in this life, all we can do is prepare for the worst and pray for the best. That’s a Bible edge for life and the faithful living of it.
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
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