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Dear friend,
It is always such a blessing to write to you, and I pray that the Lord uses these letters to powerfully touch your heart, no matter what may be happening in your life.
Today I want to ask you something: Has the enemy ever stolen something from you? He is a thief, and he will always try to take away the wonderful things we have in life, whether that is a dream, a person we love, or even the state of peace and joy that God wants us to live our lives in.
When the devil steals something, it can be a struggle to take that thing back — some people never do get it back — but God didn’t intend for us to live robbed lives. I want to give you an example today of a person who lost so many things, but thanks to her obedient posture and our Lord’s graciousness, she recovered it all — more abundantly than anyone could have expected!
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It might sound strange to say, but the moment that Esther was chosen as one of the many beautiful women who might become the queen, she must have felt like she had lost it all. When the soldiers came to take her to the palace, they were taking her away from her home, her friends, and her dear cousin Mordecai, who she loved like a father. As if all that wasn’t enough, the last thing Mordecai said to her was, “Don’t reveal your identity as a Jew. Do not even go by your Jewish name, Hadassa, but by the Persian name, Esther.”
In a single moment, poor Esther had lost her home, her father, her friends in the town where she lived, and even her cultural identity, language, and name. All at once, this young woman truly lost everything — but friend, our God is a great restorer, and He was going to restore Esther in a wonderful way.
Of course, Esther’s restoration started with becoming queen. As she was undergoing 12 months of beauty treatments to get ready to see the king, the Bible says that she found favor with the head eunuch who was taking care of all the girls, so he made sure that she had seven attendants from the palace, that she got to stay in the best place in the house of women, and that she even got extra beauty treatments.
When it was finally time for her to come before the king, the Bible tells us, “The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esther 2:17).
Think about that, friend: Esther had lost so much, but God took her horrible situation and gave her favor so that she would be comfortable in her time of waiting, and when the day came for her to see the king, God restored her dignity and gave her the position, power, and riches of a queen.
God is so gracious, friend, but you and I know that this was just the beginning of His restoration in Esther’s life. When our Lord restores, He doesn’t just give us back what we’ve lost — He showers us with blessings that are exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could ask or think (see Ephesians 3:20)! When the wicked man Haman tried to wipe out the whole Jewish nation, Esther was in exactly the right place to stand up and save her people.
Something I want to remind you of is that our restoration doesn’t always come easily. When Esther heard the bad news about the king’s decree to kill all the Jews, she could have felt hopeless. She could have given up and said, “Well, I’ve already lost so much, and now it looks like I’m going to lose all my people too.” When Mordecai asked her to go before the king, she could have said, “Oh, but if he doesn’t want to see me, I could be put to death. I’m too scared,” or, “But I’m so comfortable living as a queen. I don’t want to put my nice new life at risk.”
She could have said all those things, but instead she said, “…I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). What amazing courage! Even after losing so much, she was ready to put everything on the line that she had recovered and even lose her life if that was part of God’s plan — and of course, her reward was great for her obedience.
When she finally appealed to the king and told him about her identity and the threat to her people, God’s plan for restoration was absolutely complete. Friend, Esther had lost her language, her family, and her culture, but through her, they were all saved from complete destruction. She had been taken away from her beloved cousin Mordecai, but in the end, he was promoted to be Haman’s replacement, so she could see him all the time. Esther, with her courageous and sacrificial attitude, had absolutely everything restored to her on a greater scale than she could ever have imagined!
Friend, you can’t outgive the Lord. He’s always going to give back more than you ever did. That’s why I want to encourage you to look at Esther’s example. If the enemy has stolen something from you, it’s God’s will for you to recover it. Esther lost everything, but she recovered it all and then some more, more than she could ever have imagined. Her humility and obedience opened the door for God to do amazing things, and those qualities in your life can open that same door.
I just love Esther’s story, and there is so much more that I would love to share with you, so I want to invite you to my weekly program, TIME With Denise Renner. I’m currently in the middle of a series that is all about the restorative power of God, and if you are feeling like life has stolen everything from you, then you won’t want to miss it. I hope you’ll come watch live on Monday at 7 AM CT on either Facebook or YouTube, or on Wednesday at 12 PM CT on Facebook. You can also watch my programs any time by visiting my YouTube channel or renner.org.
I also want to invite you to contact our team for prayer if you need it. The number is 1.844.473.6637, and you can also email denisesocial@renner.org. We love having the opportunity to stand with you in the hard times and to celebrate with you when the Lord’s restoring power moves in your life, so don’t hesitate to reach out!
We are moving forward together,
Denise Renner