We've reached an exciting point in the story: it is Esther's turn to go to the king (Esther 2:15). It is now the seventh year of King Xerxes' reign (v. 16); that is, four years after Queen Vashti has been deposed. In those four years, most historians think that King Xerxes went to wage an unsuccessful war against Greece.

But he's now back, and what is his verdict? Esther wins! (Esther 2:17). To celebrate, King Xerxes proclaims a public holiday and hands out gifts to everyone (v. 18).

Yet as we watch and cheer for Esther's rise from nobody to queen, we might feel a sense of discomfort. Mordecai has forbidden her to make her Jewish identity known (Esther 2:10), and we wonder how much else she might have compromised on. How many of the Old Testament laws did she not keep? Did she break the food laws? Did she rest on the Sabbath? It seems that belonging to God's people must be dangerous in some way. But does she compromise too much to keep her background hidden? After all, she does go along quietly with the contest, and does so well that she ends up marrying a foreign, pagan king.

Then we look at Vashti, who refused to go along with the king. And we wonder if Esther also could have or should have refused to play the game. But it is hard for us to judge her, because who knows what we would have done in her situation?

What we do know is that Esther's situation is true to life. Her dilemma is similar to what many of us experience. We face the difficult task of being in this world but not of this world. We face the temptation of hiding or compromising on our faith to avoid problems. We can compromise on some issues, but when it comes to issues of faith and the gospel we cannot. In the New Testament, James warns us that ″friendship with the world means enmity against God″ (James 4:4). As Christians, we must say ″no″ when we are tempted to compromise our faith and the gospel.