{"id":96,"date":"2012-09-26T01:58:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T01:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/?p=96"},"modified":"2024-10-31T16:02:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T16:02:41","slug":"the-road-less-travelled-to-the-right-mate-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/the-road-less-travelled-to-the-right-mate-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Road Less Travelled to the Right Mate Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s not just the ladies that travel the road of rejection to the man for their lives. Gentlemen, sometimes we travel that road, too. Esther serves as a prime candidate of a Godly woman. But how can we end up with a lady like Esther? I bet King Xerxes would agree that rejection can help us accomplish this. Perhaps you\u2019re familiar with his story.<\/p>\n

King Xerxes throws a party for his officials and servants. He asks for Vashti, his Queen, to grace the occasion (Esther 1:1-11 ESV). She refused (Esther 1:12). He was embarrassed and angry \u2014 so much so that his advisors counseled him to dethrone her and find someone else better<\/em> than her (Esther 1:16-22). He adhered to their directives and began to search for someone better. That\u2019s how he ended up with Esther. The snub Xerxes experienced from Vashti opened the door for him to find and end up with Esther.<\/p>\n

The significance of Vashti and Esther\u2019s names and their stories give us more glimpses on why God uses rejection to help us find our mates. Vashti means \u201cbeautiful\u201d; Esther means \u201cstar.\u201d Vashti makes her cameo in the first chapter of Esther. But Esther shows up in chapter two of her own book. Their initial intros into their respective chapters pertain directly to who they were. The women are in sharp contrast to each other. Vashti is the Queen. She is beautiful. She begins as royalty. In contrast, we hear of Hadassah, who lost her parents. She\u2019s a peasant. She starts off with tragedy.<\/p>\n

How is this significant? Well, many of us guys make bad choices when choosing women. Ladies, please, you don\u2019t have to say \u201cduuuh.\u201d Vashti represents the girl that first gets our attention. She\u2019s the girl that stands out in the crowd. She\u2019s appealing, glamorous, and catches our eyes first. She\u2019s the girl the guys are talking about. She\u2019s the girl overshadowing Esther. Vashti is the dominating figure that shows up first in chapter one. Yet, Esther first shows up in chapter two \u2026 her own<\/em> book.<\/p>\n

Esther is the decent, Godly woman who doesn\u2019t stand out in the beginning. She\u2019s the faithful, God-fearing lady who does not appeal to you the first time you see her. She is the girl you side-step and overlook because you\u2019re distracted and infatuated with Vashti. Esther is the girl you should be falling over yourself to go out with. But because she doesn\u2019t stand out to you the first time you see her, you dismiss her, and bend over backwards to go out with Vashti. And of course, Vashti ends up breaking your heart. That\u2019s if she did not blow you off in the first place.<\/p>\n

Vashti is beautiful, but Esther is a star. All stars are beautiful but all beautiful people are not stars. The light of Christ resonates in the Esthers of this world. They shine. They illuminate any darkness around you, like Esther exposed the darkness of the doorkeepers who wanted to kill Xerxes and the deceitfulness of Haman, who wanted to annihilate the Jews (Esther 2:21-23; 7:1-10).<\/p>\n

Esther is the diamond in the rough. Guys, if you want the diamond, you need to go through the rough to get her. If you just spent time with Hadassah, the girl that is a shining light but does not appeal to you on first impression, you might discover that she is indeed a star. Esther. You\u2019ll find out that there is more to her than meets the eye. You\u2019ll discover that she\u2019s not just Hadassah; she\u2019s Esther, and she far outshines Vashti. Investing time to know her will offer you the opportunity to discern this and see her reflect the diamond that she is.<\/p>\n

Some of us guys don\u2019t have that wisdom. That\u2019s why God hires rejection to tutor us. Please no offense to you ladies who go by the name \u201cVashti.\u201d It\u2019s a beautiful name. Notwithstanding I\u2019m just using her as a representation of the kind of woman some of us guys fall prey to. I\u2019m also unearthing nuggets from her interaction with the king.<\/p>\n

Esther woos her king and husband while Vashti brings woe to him (Esther 1:17-18; 5:1-8; 7:1). Vashti’s action could have also incited other women to bring reproach to their husbands (Esther 1:17-18).<\/p>\n

Gentlemen, God uses rejection to get you from a lady who ignores you to another lady who wants to be with you. He uses rejection to get you from a lady who is selfish to another lady who is selfless. He uses it to deliver you from a lady who throws a party for herself to a lady who throws a party for you (Esther 1:9; 5:1-8; 7:1). Rejection is used to get you from a lady who seeks her own interests, embarrasses you, and does not want to be in your presence to a lady who seeks, not only your interests, but the interests of others, honors you, and seeks God with prayer and fasting to find favor in your eyes (Esther 4:16).<\/p>\n

Guys, how many of us have sense enough to discern such a rare gem? Not many of us. So, God employs rejection to assist us. My friend, has someone been coming up in your mind since I\u2019ve been describing Esther? And, even Vashti? Can you relate with King Xerxes? Are you a man of influence and a man of God? Are you one of the few good men who\u2019s been rebuffed by women and wondering why this is happening to you when you\u2019re living and doing right?<\/p>\n

Be encouraged, my man. God is just setting you up for your Esther. She might not be a queen, a leader, or a person on whom the hopes of a nation rest. But she will honor, appreciate, celebrate and pray for you. She will seek God on your behalf. She will protect you. She will bring out the best in you, like Esther did for Xerxes. Sometimes, the way to that kind of woman is the road less travelled.<\/p>\n

The rejections I experienced set me on the course to learn these truths. Ladies and gentlemen, rejection is not a wall that blocks your path; it\u2019s an arrow that directs it. Being rejected is not the end of your life; it\u2019s just a means to an end for your life. And that end is your destiny. So, be encouraged to know that God is using your rebuffs to get you from someone who does not belong to you to someone who will be longing for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the ladies that travel the road of rejection to the man for their lives. Gentlemen, sometimes we travel that road, too. Esther serves as a prime candidate of a Godly woman. But how can we end up with a lady like Esther? I bet King Xerxes would agree that rejection can help … Continue reading The Road Less Travelled to the Right Mate Part 2<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,9,4],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirational","tag-o-j-toks-blog","tag-overcoming-rejection","tag-rejected-for-a-purpose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":775,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ojtoks.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}