A Special Orphan

We know that God loves orphans, but tonight at Bible Study, in our study of Esther, I realized that God sometimes has special plans which include the process of being orphaned. Esther was greatly used by God to deliver the Jewish people from annihilation by a pagan king. Esther was a beautiful intelligent woman. And Esther was an orphan.
This is the way Esther is presented in Esther 2:5-7 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai… He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
Esther lost both her mother and her father when she was young. As Beth Moore pointed out in her study, that is the greatest loss a child can have. When a child who loses both parents, she has lost those who would care for her, nurture her, and protect her. God makes it clear that when that happens, we are all responsible to come to her aid. Here are just a few verses that reflect God’s heart for orphans.
Isa 1:17
17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan,

Jer 22:3-4
'Thus says the Lord, " Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

James 1:27
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Esther was an orphan who was called by God and selected for a very special purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
God has plans for each one of us. It is hard to understand that God would plan in His providence for some children to be orphaned, to have neither father nor mother.
Esther was a special woman, put into a special position for, as she was told, “such a time as this”.
Every part of her life was important to make her the person she was for the purpose God had for her.
Tonight, Beth said, “You cannot amputate your history from your destiny. You cannot become the person God is making you without your history.” That is so important. A lot of people have some really bad things in their history. I know that God does not design bad things to happen to innocent children, but I also know that God uses all of those things to make people who are exactly what He needs for a specific purpose.

I have eight grandchildren, half of them adopted. My oldest daughter has a biological son and three children who were in an orphanage in Korea. God had great plans for those children. The fact that they were born in Korea is an important part of those plans. Part of God’s plan for them was that they needed to grow up in this family in Texas. I don’t know why God worked in that way. I am just glad and grateful that He brought them to us. These children are amazing and wonderful children and I am so excited to see the special plans God has for them.