April Fool?

Some may think it strange that the Official Launch of the GodGirlsInc Bible Blog happens to be on April Fool's Day. Well, although it wasn't planned that way, we've chosen to maximize this opportunity to discuss some foolishness found in the Word of God.

'Foolishness?', you might say. Yes! The Bible includes an extensive record of personalities and events that, though documented hundreds, even thousands of years ago, is alive and points at all of the same human tendencies we experience today.

Ever felt like a 'Plum Fool'? Can you recall your most embarrassing moment? We are all guilty of having done some thing (in some cases, many things) that has left us with egg on our faces! If we could just go back and rearrange our approach, say it differently, choose another path....

I would guess that Queen Vashti in the first book of Esther would kill for a second chance. Vashti's husband, King Xerxes held a banquet in the courtyard of the palace garden while she gave her own banquet in the royal palace. Xerxes got drunk and got a little beside himself and called for his 'trophy wife' Vashti. He desired the men in his presence to witness the beauty he called his woman. Queen Vashti's response to this off-the-wall, yet understandable, request was 'Tell Xerxes go sit down somewhere with that mess! I'm entertaining too!' (very loosely paraphrased, of course). And, her refusal to comply cost her her crown.

How often have we scoffed at the requests of those in authority over us- moma, daddy, teacher, husband, pastor, pastor's wife- and dismissed them as outlandish and unnecessary. Regardless of how irrelevant we consider the request, we have an obligation to the mandate of God to obey the king (authority) that has the rule over us (Eccl. 8:2). If Vashti had not been forever banished from her husband's presence, she would've been able to stick around to witness his remorse in Chapter 2. We must remain in our places and allow God to deal with those in authority over us who admittedly, at times, overstep their boundaries and provoke those God has called them to lead. The key, though, is to allow GOD to chastise them so that we won't get ourselves into trouble.

So, if Vashti had it to do all over again do you think she may have reconsidered such a quick and flippant response? Maybe she would have 'played the whole tape through" to see how she would end up being replaced by someone who was on the kingdom's 'hit list'! Perhaps she may have done an inventory of all that she would be giving up (power, prestige, endless shopping!...lol).

Your turn again...Go ahead and do it. Relive that painful and compromising decision that left you looking like a clown. Smell it. Taste it. Hear the audience of naysayers laughing at your dethroning. Now, determine within yourself (and aloud if you must) that starting today, April 1st 2011, you will be nobody's Fool!

 *******************************************

Let's Chat (IF YOU DARE!)

• Read Esther Chapter 1
• Could King Xerxes' natural (alcoholic) intoxication symbolize a similar drunkenness sometimes found in leadership?
• What impact, if any, do the relaxed boundaries in verse 8 have on the outcome of this situation?
• Do you think Vashti's punishment was warranted? Why or Why Not?

*jollablogga*