Sat May 17

Listen up, little ones

Listen for the word favor.

Reading

Esther 7:1–4—If I have Found Favor

Keys for kids

• Esther had to ask for the King’s favor every time.
• If the king didn’t grant favor, Esther would be killed.
• The king granted favor and gave her request.

Questions

1. If the king would grant Esther favor, what was her request?
2. How did Esther find favor with the king?
3. How do we find favor with God?

Notes

Esther, at Mordecai’s encouragement, was in the process of requesting King Xerxes’s favor to stay their destruction planned by Haman. Larson and Dahlen note that Esther had no assurance of Xerxes’s reaction once she accused Haman. The king was a volatile man prone to moodiness, and Haman held a favored position. She could take no consolation from his expansive mood; everything could still spiral out of control.

So, Esther asks for the King’s favor. This is one of the themes of the book of Esther. Esther found favor with the keeper of the king’s women (2:9), of all who saw her (2:15), and the king (2:17). However, the king’s favor was unpredictable. Anyone who dared to approach the king without being summoned (even the queen!) faced death, unless the king granted his favor by extending his scepter. Yet Esther requested the king’s favor time and time again (5:2, 5:8, 7:3, 8:5). And, time and time again the king granted that favor.

We don’t think of seeking favor of the king, but how do we find favor with God? By approaching God’s throne of grace with boldness, through our Savior, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

Swedish Method questions

Praise

Psalm 84a, 84b

Prayer

1. Praise the Lord that he grants favor to his people in Jesus.
2. Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
3. Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.