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Agency

Esther and the Hazard of Inaction

Mordecai warned Esther that if she failed to take action to protect her people, she would not be safe. Captain Moroni gave a similar warning to Pahoran, reminding him that God would not save him from his own negligence. Not choosing is itself a choice, and it has consequences.

Parenting

Esther and Abish: The Influence of Father Figures

Two women — Esther and Abish — acted with courage on behalf of their people. In both cases, a father figure had helped to build their faith. A father’s influence can fortify a child for a later moment of crisis that they must face alone.

Obedience

Remember Me, O My God

Nehemiah corrected his people when they failed to follow God’s commandments, sometimes harshly. Afterward, he pleaded with God to approve of his efforts. He might have been wise to seek God’s guidance about how to encourage obedience, as Alma did when he faced transgression within the church.

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COME, FOLLOW ME

  • “Thou Art Come … for Such a Time as This”

    Esther, by Jean-François Portaels

    The quietest person in the room may be the person with the most spiritual strength.

    King Ahasuerus of Persia loved his wife Esther but had no idea that she was Jewish (Esther 2:17, 20). Her cousin and guardian, Mordecai, had warned her not to reveal it. But when the king’s chief minister, Haman, threatened to kill all of the Jews in the kingdom, Esther had to speak up, even at the peril of her life. Mordecai asked, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). It was her time to show genuine courage, and she did. She revealed her identity to the king and pleaded on behalf of her people (Esther 7:3-4). The king sided with her over Haman, and her people were saved (Esther 8).

    The Book of Mormon contains a story of a woman who rose to a similar challenge. Abish, a servant of the Lamanite queen, had been “converted unto the Lord for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father” (Alma 19:16), but she had apparently kept that to herself. But when a missionary named Ammon taught the king, the king, the queen, and Ammon all collapsed to the ground (Alma 19:12-14). Recognizing the hand of God, Abish ran to gather the people, so they could see this miracle. When they didn’t interpret the scene in a positive light, Abish took the hand of the queen and raised her up, so that she could testify to the people (Alma 19:29).

    Even though Esther was the queen, she didn’t feel powerful until she needed to exercise her power. Abish also seems to have been content to nurture her faith in solitude until circumstances compelled her to be more open.

    President Russell M. Nelson shared a similar modern experience. A stake president (a regional ecclesiastical leader responsible for 5-12 congregations) was leading a council meeting in which leaders were wrestling with a difficult challenge. He turned to a female leader who had not spoken and asked if she had any impressions. “Well, actually I have,” she said, and then shared an insight that changed the entire course of the conversation. The stake president said, “As she spoke, the Spirit testified to me that she had given voice to the revelation we had been seeking as a council” (“A Plea to My Sisters,” October 2015 general conference).

    This week, as we study Esther, let’s observe how the hand of the Lord often operates quietly yet powerfully to bless God’s children.

FEATURED POSTS

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    A Hundredth Part: Mormon’s Editorial Decisions

    Book of Mormon authors made it clear how much they were leaving out as they wrote this “abridgment” of their history. Here’s a diagram showing how many words are dedicated to each of the 103 decades in the book.

  • Jesus Christ’s Sermon at the Temple in Bountiful – 3 Nephi 12-16, 20-22

    Jesus Christ’s Sermon at the Temple in Bountiful – 3 Nephi 12-16, 20-22

    Following His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ visited a group of people in the Americas. He taught them principles to help them deepen their discipleship, and He expanded their perspective by teaching them about God’s global, multigenerational work.

  • Names and Titles of Jesus Christ

    Names and Titles of Jesus Christ

    In March, 2019, I studied 20 different names or titles of Jesus Christ which appear in the Book of Mormon. I was particularly interested in the way each name was used, both in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible.