PARENTS ARE ONLY AMBASSADORS
Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. Esther 2:7
Esther had no father and mother. Orphans have always moved the heart of God. So, He gave her an adoptive parent named Mordecai who raised her to worship God. He was God’s representative to Esther, sent to show her the pathway back to God who promised to meet all of her needs. It would have been tempting for Mordecai to stand in God’s place; become God to Esther, bringing her only to himself and becoming everything to her. But that would only have hurt her in the long run. Mordecai would have set Himself up as an idol and Esther would not have had the spiritual resources to reign as Queen with a wisdom and an authority beyond her years.
The Psalmist said, Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. Psalm 27:10 There is a subtle but powerful truth to be understood here. God is declaring Himself to be a Father and a Mother when our parents fail us. He is the One who fills the aching void that comes from feeling like an orphan. How does He reach out to us? Oftentimes, it’s through a Mordecai, a parent-type who extends to us on God’s behalf.
But here’s the danger when God shows His love to us through people. We so desperately want parents we can touch and experience here on earth that we cease to see them as ambassadors. We clamor to rest beneath their protective umbrella and look to them to meet all our needs when they are only sent to us to point us to our spiritual refuge in Christ Jesus. They are designed to be ‘the icing’ but not ‘the cake’.
God has been gracious to me through the years by sending many older saints my way. They encouraged me, hugged me, prayed for me, but never failed to point me to the One who had filled them with a supernatural love for me. I struggled with idolatry here and there, but God kept bringing me back to Himself. Today, I am satiated in soul and spirit.
I will always be tempted to look to people for what only You can give me. Keep my discernment sharp and my appetite bent toward You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Originally published Tuesday, 26 March 2019.
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