The ladies who were in the contest to take Vashti’s place were kept for one year, going through therapies to beautify their bodies and skin…then at different intervals, they went in one by one to spend an evening with King Xerxes.
(The young women were given beauty treatments for one whole year. The first six months their skin was rubbed with olive oil and myrrh, and the last six months it was treated with perfumes and cosmetics. Then each of them spent the night alone with King Xerxes. Esther 2:12 CEV)
Now each time a lady’s turn came to go and be with the king, she would be led into a room full of clothes and jewellery and she could choose anything, combine it however she wanted and mehn…it was just too much. Imagine that was you…what would you choose? Maybe the most expensive clothes, jewellery, scents, etc… I mean this is your chance to meet the King and win Vashti’s exalted position as Queen of Persia…
Vashti undid herself from her position in the King’s 3rd year in power. Esther’s turn to appear before the King didn’t happen until his 7th year in power.
Here’s what is striking about Esther. When it was her turn, she didn’t go into that room, hold her cheeks with both hands and scream ‘oh my gosh’, picking her choice of clothes and jewellery. Instead,
(She required nothing but what Hegai the king’s attendant, the keeper of the women, suggested. And Esther won favor in the sight of all who saw her. Esther 2:15 AMPC)
Esther went to the person who had been in charge of all of them all these years. His profession was to arrange babes for the King so Esther new that he would know what would please the King…
God’s favour was on Esther and that favour gave her the wisdom to ask Hegai to choose the clothes and Jewellery she would wear to appear before the King.
This brings us right back to what we have been saying recently. It’s not enough to KNOW WHAT YOU WANT out of life. True maturity is in knowing what YOU SHOULD WANT. Asking the Lord what He wants us to want for ourselves is a much deeper walk in God.
Because like the other ladies, there are lots of beautiful things to want in this life and you can even confuse them to be what the Lord wants (what they thought the King wanted). Like Esther, we don’t just automatically know what the Lord wants, but He has given us His own Spirit, who knows what the Father wants, for they are one (Hegai knew what the King wanted).
With God, there is no such thing as automatic… simply because it is good. He must want it for you. Ask Him and He will show you what you should want….
There goes His good (our desire) acceptable (more of our desire with some of His will) and perfect (only His will) will (Romans 12.2) Which do you want?
Esther became Queen because she asked Hegai to choose for her. We become truly happy when we let the Lord help us choose. It may not look all so great at first, but we end up truly happy.