Reading Time: 2 minutes
“Why so glum, David?” Papa asked. “You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“Ahhh . . . it sounds silly to talk about,” David answered.
“Try me.”
“I want to be courageous,” David explained, “but it seems that when I get into scary situations, I freeze up. When do you get to the place where you’re no longer afraid of anything?”
“Not silly at all,” Papa responded. “And I’m afraid the answer to your question is ‘never.’ You never reach a point in life when you no longer know or feel fear. But with God’s help, you can stop letting fear control you.”
David frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, let me see if I can explain it.” Papa thought for a moment. “Do you remember the story of Queen Esther in the Bible?”
“Yeah, I think so. She helped save the Jews in her country when a bad guy wanted to destroy them all.”
“That’s right. But did you know she was scared? Terrified, in fact! She did not want to be the one to go to the king.”
“Why not?” David asked. “She was his wife. Surely it was safe for her to talk to her husband.”
“Not when her husband was the king,” Papa explained. “If someone approached the king without being sent for, they would be put to death unless he reached out his scepter to them. And he had not asked to speak to Esther for over thirty days.”
“Wow! No wonder Queen Esther was scared.”
“But her uncle Mordecai told Esther that she may have been put in the palace just so she could help save her people. Even though she was frightened, Esther told him to have all of the people pray for her. Then she put on her royal robe and went to the king. Can you imagine how scared she must have felt? But the king reached out his royal scepter to her, sparing her life.”
Papa went on. “I’m sure her fear didn’t end there, though, because she had to tell the king that his most trusted aid was up to no good. This man wanted to kill all of the Jews, and Queen Esther was a Jew. She was careful in how she explained it to her husband. Plus, God impressed on the king to reread some historical accounts, and he learned that Mordecai had never been rewarded for the time he’d saved the king’s life.
“When the king learned that, he wanted to make it right with Mordecai. Then he found out that the evil Haman was planning to hang Mordecai, so the king ordered Haman hung instead.”
“Wow!” David exclaimed. “I see what you mean. Being brave isn’t about not being scared. It’s being scared and still doing the right thing and depending on God to help you do it.”
Papa smiled. “Yep! Now let’s go read the whole story.”
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