Esther 1:9-12

 

Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas  to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.

 

Okay, so my second name is Esther.

I was named after the queen Esther herself. But that woman didn’t become a queen overnight, it was due to what happened to the queen before her and how she handled her position when the king was calling her to come and showcase her beauty before the people of the land.

There are so many school of thought about why she didn’t come, some are of the opinion that probably the king was drunk and wanted her to come and parade before other drunk men, others think that she was just full of herself and that is why she didn’t give regard to the invite of the man who had made it possible for her to even have a party to host for the women of the land.

With all that happened that day, the truth still remains that Vashti refused to come out to see her husband the king when he demanded her attention, and by so doing, she lost her position as the queen of the land.

 You might be asking ‘Okay, the story of Vashti’s life is over now, so how does it concern my career?  It actually concerns your career in more ways than you can imagine.

Sometimes back, I was having a hard time with my immediate boss at work, some things were not going right and my heart was not right too. I prayed about it and as I was going about my daily task, the story of Vashti was suddenly impressed upon my heart. I was wondering how Vashti and her being demoted from the exalted place she was as a queen had anything to do with my career, but I was ready to learn.

Vashti signifies that person in the market place who was brought into that place by God through a man here on earth, it is possible that within the space of a little time, that small man or lady that was brought in some months or years ago also rose to the position of  having juniors or other people that begins to report back to you too, and it can be said you now have kingdom of your own too and so the king who made it possible for you to be able to hold a banquet for the women of the land literally speaking no longer holds any water in your eyes.

While God is ultimately the lifter of men and you can’t be lifted except God is the one doing the lifting, but the people he uses are men, you can’t consistently be dishonoring superiors at work and then expect that you will be lifted anyhow anyhow. Remember Vashti, she was demoted in the kingdom and another person was brought into her place.

In today’s world, while some people have it going rough for them on the premises of something that isn’t even their fault, others have it going on so smoothly for them because of the privilege they have of knowing someone.

While this knowing of someone is relative, as there are people who do not know a soul prior to their employment in a particular office, but then, there is someone who adopted you in that office, there is someone ahead of you, there is someone whose experience in relevant tools and applications is helping you not to make the same mistake again, and irrespective of who that person is, they still deserve all the respect you can give them.

A lot of older people help younger colleagues to have a footing in life and career, and most times when they do, the young fellow suddenly feel they have arrived too since they have mouth-watering figures in bank and solid investment portfolios and can do just about anything they want to do since they now have their own space and people who are also saying say yes sir or yes ma’am to them.

While your promotion is ultimately in God’s hands but don’t forget the people on whose shoulder you are climbing or you climbed in time past.

Don’t become so big in your own eyes that you begin to see that person as insignificant.

Remember Vashti, it takes nothing for you to be pulled out of that position and then replaced with someone more worthy.

It’s great you now have your own harem where you are a host too, but don’t look down on those who made it possible.

Don’t make them shut the doors of opportunities on others who will still need them later on in future based on your actions today.

When next you are tempted to look down on the king of your kingdom in that office, remember Vashti.