Who's that girl? It's Jess.

Category Archives: Bible Stories

Anyone ever watched Veggie Tales as a kid? Or an adult? Let’s be honest it’s funnier as an adult! The tale of Esther is one of my favourite bible stories as well as VT episodes. For anyone who doesn’t know the story of Esther you should definitely go watch the episode or here’s the quick version…

The King’s Mrs has been given the flick because she didn’t come when he called so he is on the hunt for a new Queen. Haman is the King’s right-hand man and a little up himself. He travels around and collects all the eligible bachelorette’s and brings them to the King. The King chooses Esther. Esther and Mordecai are cousins. Haman is not a fan of Mordecai – a guard of the King’s gate – because he won’t bow down to Haman, so he decides to kill Mordecai and his family, including Esther who is now the queen, and tricks the King into signing off on this. Mordecai convinces Esther to go to the King without permission (which is a big deal) and she says something along the lines of “Hey dude, your 2IC is about to off me, your new Queen and my cuz over here, what are you gonna do about it?”. The King is not happy because he likes his new Queen so he pops Haman and his 10 sons up on a spiky 23 metre pole, which is kind of ironic because Haman erected said pole to spike Mordecai. Also, I think there is a feast that happens at some point.

Recently I was reading about Esther’s tale and came across Haman, a character I hadn’t really paid much attention to before (in the Veggie Tales episode he’s the butternut pumpkin shaped dude). He is the bad guy in this story – trying to get everyone killed and what-not. He makes a lot of dodgy choices and doesn’t really consult the King who has the authority.

But as I was reading I realised he probably didn’t think he was a super douche. He thought that the King was going to honour him with a parade and a robe and a horse. He felt so confident that he was right and Mordecai was wrong that he went ahead and created the super spiky pole.

It got me to thinking that sometimes we can be so confident that we are making the right decision we go ahead with it before consulting God or others that it may impact. Now there is much less people on spikes these days but the concept remains the same. We think we’ve made the perfect choice for our family or future and we go around telling everyone that we are going to have a parade in our honour or a royal robe or God coming down to Earth and saying “You are so much better at this than me so let’s swap places”. When really we are creating our very own 23 metre impaling device.

I don’t want to ever become to so sure my decisions are best without discussing them with others it might impact. Decisions like knocking out a wall in my house before chatting to my Landlord (don’t worry Aunty Gwen I would never do that!) or deciding that my shift at work should start an hour later without letting my boss know. That’s extreme but you get the picture!

I want to be humble in approaching others with suggestions, even if I think it’s the best idea in the world! I don’t want to go through life expecting a parade whenever I do something. I mean a parade with a fancy robe and people saying I am amazing would be cool but it shouldn’t be the reason I do things. My actions should reflect what is right for me and I should consult God or others who have more knowledge than me before I go around proclaiming I am all that.

Like Esther, who was humble and respectful, we should work hard in silence and let our carefully considered actions make the noise.