“And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces”—Esther 8:5.
ESTHER’S words here are very suggestive in regard to prayer: (1) if it please the king; (2) if I have found favor in his sight; (3) if the thing seems right before the king; (4) if I be pleasing in his eyes. It is in an attitude such as this that we should come into the presence of the King of kings, seeking His favor, not in an arbitrary way but in accordance with His infinite love and wisdom, and with the assurance in our own hearts that we are seeking to walk in a way that is pleasing in His eyes, for it is written, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
The weary ones had rest, the sad had joy that day.
And wondered how.
A ploughman singing at his work had prayed.
‘Lord, help them now.’
Away in foreign lands they wondered how
Their feeble words had power.
At home the Christians, two or three, had met,
To pray an hour.
Yes, we are always wondering, wondering how,
Because we do not see
Someone unknown, perhaps, and far away,
On bended knee.”