Unlike many other books in the Bible, Esther does not directly mention God's name or explicitly reference divine intervention. But God's providential planning and organising work is all over the story; from the raising and falling statuses of the characters, to the amazing timing of events, to the eventual dramatic rescue of a people.
Session 1 // Trust that God is at Work (Esther 1:1-2:18) - Christian Finer
Session 2 // Stand Up To Injustice (Esther 2:19-4:17) - Rachel Fellingham
Session 3 // Get Wise, Have a Plan (Esther 5:1-7:10) - Gareth O'Sullivan
Session 4 // Celebrate Your Freedom (Esther 8:1-10:3) - Hudson Virgo
Session 5 // Be Together (Esther 9:1-19) - Matt Thomson
Session 6 // Remember God's Faithfulness (Esther 9:20-10:3) – Pete Coe
Esther 2:16-17 And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Questions:
How confident do you feel on a day-to-day basis?
Are there any examples of how God has worked in your life?
How can we actively choose to trust in God every day?
How does trusting that God is powerfully working all the time affect our confidence?
Esther 4:16 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
Questions:
What kind of bravery in daily challenges does confidence in God inspire?
Do you struggle to give up control of your own life to God?
When you see injustice how do you feel?
Have you ever faced injustice as a christian?
Esther 6:6b-10 And Haman came in, and the king said to him, 'What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honour?' And Haman said to himself, 'Whom would the king delight to honour more than me?' And Haman said to the king, 'For the man whom the king delights to honour, let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set.'9 And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honour, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honour.’” 10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.”
Questions
How do wisdom and strategy work together to bring about the right actions?
What does it mean to be wise?
Who is a wise person in your life? And why are they wise?
What are active ways you can make sure you become more wise on a daily basis?
Esther 9:22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
Questions:
What does it mean to be completely free?
What are things you are grateful for in life?
What ways do we express gratitude and joy for the blessings in our lives?
Esther 9:16 Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
Questions
How do we live out the Christian life as a people together, defending each other?
Have you ever been faced with opposition because of your faith?
Why is it important to support one another and work together as a community?Why is it important to support one another and work together as a community?
Esther 9:28b ...that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
Questions:
How do we remember the faithfulness of God?
How can we encourage each other to trust in God’s faithfulness?
How can we cultivate (grow) a spirit of thankfulness and a reliance on God’s provision? E.g. praying thanks every day
Maybe break bread and pray together in small groups and just highlight the importance of giving thanks for dying on the cross for us?