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Esther C: 14:5-7* "Ever since I was born I have heard in the tribe of my family that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers from among all their ancestors, for an everlasting inheritance, and that thou didst do for them all that thou didst promise. And now we have sinned before thee, and thou hast given us into the hands of our enemies, because we glorified their gods. Thou art righteous, O Lord!" 

 

This is part of Queen Esther's prayer when she was "seized with deathly anxiety, [and] fled to the Lord". (Esther C: 14:1). Her anxiety was due to the fact that she had learned that the exiled Jewish people were to be slaughtered on the order of her husband, the king, due to the wicked influence his servant, Haman. Esther ends up saving her people by going to the king and finding the right way to appeal to him, but she did not know for certain that it would work out that way. She was understandably terrified when she learned of the order, and she prayed and fasted for three days before gathering herself and approaching the king.

 

Esther knew to turn to God in her deathly anxiety, and because she did, God was with her. How many of us or our children are suffering from either chronic or occasional anxiety? It is a rampant problem in our culture. The societal answer is to go to therapy, and that can certainly help, but I believe a lot of the anxiety we suffer stems from us having forgotten what Esther remembered. Esther had been told since her birth of God's love and mighty deeds for His people. She had that knowledge to fall back on when she was faced with a seemingly impossible situation. The first thing Esther did, and the only thing she had to do, when seized with deathly anxiety was turn to God. She made her plea, trusted His goodness, and faced the situation knowing that God was at her side.

 

What harm we are doing to ourselves and, more tragically, our children, by not turning to God first when we feel the anxieties of our difficult age! He should be our first recourse, yet so often we forget Him and instead turn to human intervention. Most therapists don't even talk about God unless the patient wants to, so they will not lead us to Him. We have to remember what God has done for us, and trust that He loves us and is always with us. That is the first and most important step in overcoming any anxiety. And woe to us if we do not tell our children of God and His great love. They, like Esther, deserve to have that bedrock to fall back on when they face their own deathly anxiety.

 

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Esther's prayer is embedded in Chapter 4 of the Book of Esther, and not easily partially linked, so I have linked to both Mordecai's and Esther's full prayers.