15 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.
16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
13 The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
The opening verse tells us of Esther and how she obtained favour before the people and king Ahasuerus. We are told that she wasn’t as heavily decorated and made over as the other virgins, but she obtained favour in the sight of everyone that looked upon her, and the king loved her above all the women, for she had obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. On the bill of God’s favour, humble Esther took the place of proud Vashti. That’s an amazing story of God’s replacement strategy and of His extravagant favour. Did you notice that Esther had favour in the ‘sight’ of all the people and of the king? ‘Sight’ here speaks of ‘before them; before their eyes’, which means that the people and the king perceived her graciously; they looked upon her with grace and favour. Did you see how favour shaped their perception of Esther? Did you notice that she wasn’t the only beautiful one amongst the virgins, but she had favour on her beauty that made it more revealing and attractive than the other virgins? Without a doubt, it is God’s favour on Esther that shaped the people’s perception of her. That’s how powerful God’s favour is.
It will interest you to know that people don’t see and appreciate your skills and talents just because you have them, but they see them because the favour of God on your life is revealing them. That’s why men of skill don’t have favour, but time with chance happens to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11). You see, there is something about your face and favour. Therefore, people who are always shy and don’t believe that they look good will find it hard to experience the favour of God. Some people don’t believe that they look good in Christ. They are not aware that they are in Zion, the perfection of beauty. They are always complaining about one thing or another. Yesterday, it was what they should have had that was absent. Today, it’s something about what they do not have; tomorrow, it’s something about the fear of what they may never have. That’s why when people look at them, they don’t feel good about them, and this is because they don’t feel good about themselves. As a child of God, you need to know that the favour of God is upon you, and that favour makes you attractive. Understand that, it is not the clothes that make you look beautiful; you are the beauty of the clothes you wear. You give essence to what you wear.
My Solid Front (Confession):
Thank You Heavenly Father for the oil of favour that is upon me, which makes me beautiful and attractive; therefore, I declare that the thoughts and perceptions of men toward me are favourable in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Further Meditation:
Genesis 20:1-18; Psalms 45:2.