Key Holders

Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house. Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. (Esther 2: 13, 15)

Grace is very interesting.

We are always shouting that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive.

Though that is scriptural, we many times seem to imply that it is cursed to receive.

I want us today to look at the grace of receiving, especially as a blessing. And it is because the grace of receiving is in itself a giving, a giving sometimes higher than that of actual giving.

You see, many give of their excess. Remember Jesus and the widow’s mite? It therefore means they do not feel much loss from their giving.

And some give of their waste. I have seen some things given in churches to minister to the poor and wondered how a sober and sane person can give tattered and worthless clothes to minister to those without.

Anyway, back to our topic.

I want us to look at Esther.

Did she aspire to be a queen? We are not told. But it is possible she was forced into the king’s court as her faith would not have allowed her to play the whore as a qualification for becoming a queen.

But nobody negotiates with a king as he owns everybody and everything in his kingdom. Incidentally it also applies to Christ.

She is therefore taken to the palace. And that is where we see her grace shining.

What was it? She was surrendered to God who had allowed her to be taken to that test, if I may call it so.

Being taken to the palace gave her a status, a major one. Imagine she had seven maidens at her beck and call!

She shines out because she releases them to serve her. She became what many leaders want to be known as yet are rarely able to become; a servant leader. She allowed them to serve her by serving their service.

Look at it this way. You are a potential queen being prepared for the same and these are your servants to make you queen material.

Let us go to our verse to get it very clearly.

When a girl’s day came to meet the king, she was given a blank check to make herself as marketable (presentable) to the king as possible. She wore what she chose, slayed as much as she could so that the king could remember her name later as that was her passport to being queen.

Now imagine yourself at that point.

I am sure that the pressure was worse for Esther as failing would have reduced her to a whore according to her faith. Sex with the king without marriage to him automatically made her a whore. Worse still is that she would then be reduced to one professionally as she would be compelled to join his harem.

What does she do when she faced such a daunting task?

She surrenders to her handlers.

She actually told them to choose her future for her. She surrenders control completely.

Now imagine you were that team. How would you have felt?

That is empowerment at its best. Someone has just placed her whole life and future in your hands.

And that is how she won.

You see, the other maidens did not know the king. Esther’s team knew the king intricately.

The other maidens who used their authority beautified themselves according to their fancies. They used their expertise to approach the king. They used their experience. They used their training.

In surrendering her privilege, Esther automatically transferred herself to the king’s court.

You see, her team (incidentally, all the maidens’ teams) knew the king and his court. And Esther had given them the chance to shine. She had returned her blank check and told them to cash it.

With that she became unbeatable and unforgettable to the king.

They knew the king’s colors. They knew the king’s pleasures. They knew the ornaments the king loved. They knew the sandals the king approved. They knew the scents that moved him.

And Esther was now their project. She had stopped being their job. Her failure could have cut them deep almost to the point of devastation. Pressure on them would have been less had they been the ones going to the king.

They therefore did their job in such a way that there could be no room for failure. And it was impossible for such a team to fail.

By choosing to give by receiving, she was able to get authority. She shone by giving others the power to shine. She chose to receive instead of giving orders.

I doubt Esther was the most beautiful of the virgins. She was a normal Jewess and I doubt she stood out otherwise everybody could have known her people long before she was dragged into that court.

But she stood out because she allowed other people’s involvement to stand out.

Now imagine with me the girls presenting themselves to the king. And here we are talking about one chance in a lifetime. You miss it and you miss out.

One comes exquisitely dressed as she came from a family with class. The king can barely take his eyes off her. He thinks that finally the chase is over. But then her perfume! Not only can’t he endure it; but he is allergic to it and starts sneezing the longer he stays with her.

The other comes all decked up with pearls as she really wants to impress. But how can the king be impressed with his own pearls?

Another comes really sensuously dressed as in her mind the king was just looking for a sex toy.

Another comes dressed nicely but her colors depress the king.

On and on and on they came, each with her peculiarity.

Again assume our girl was number thirty something. We know the girls were taken from all over the kingdom consisting of 170 provinces.

Her team knows the king completely. They know his phobias and pleasant reminisces. They know his allergies. They know his colors.

They therefore dress Esther with a simplicity that is complex as it took into consideration what the king loved and hated; what memories were pleasant or painful and what colors he loved seeing.

They then applied a perfume that was almost impossible to smell, but one that gave the king pleasant reminisces of the best times in his mother’s bosom, flooding his mind with a feeling of security that he had not felt for a long time.

When she leaves in the morning the king realizes that he can never take his mind off her. She was like someone he had known all his life, someone he could not afford to let go.

And it was the same for days.

He calls for another girl and can barely see her as his mind is still transfixed on Esther. He then realized that it would be Esther or nobody else.

That, I believe is how Esther became queen.

All because she gave the gift of receiving!

I am sure that a further reason for their passion in helping Esther was the realization that her getting the position could have made their work easier and even better from their interaction with her in those preparation rooms. That is why everybody loved her.

How many of us give others a chance to shine by ministering to us? How many do not mind others taking glory on their behalf?