NEVER UNDERESTIMATE WHAT GOD IS DOING

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot ) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”

So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”

Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring.

Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews —young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.

The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.

When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Esther 3:7-15, 4:1-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After Haman was given a position of great power by King Xerxes, it didn’t take long before he set out to abuse that power.

You’ll recall that Haman was angered by Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to him and so he longed to not just kill Mordecai but all the Jews.

As our scripture opens, a lot was cast “in the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan…in the presence of Haman to select a day and month for the annihilation of the Jews. We read where the “lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar”.

Haman then went to King Xerxes and told him, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.” Note Haman never mentioned who the certain people were and Xerxes didn’t ask…he just “took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman” saying, “Keep the money…and do with the people as you please.”

And so Haman summoned the royal secretaries “on the thirteenth day of the first month” and tasked them with writing out in the “script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples”. The orders were “written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring”. Then “dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews —young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods”. We read where a “copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day” and indeed this was carried out by the couriers who “issued the edict in the citadel of Susa.”

When word of the edict reached Mordecai, scripture tells us that “he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.” He wasn’t alone in his reaction for “there was great mourning among (all) the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.”

Well, word of Mordecai’s state of mind reached Esther by way of her “eunuchs and female attendants” placing Esther in “great distress”. And so she “sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but (Mordecai) would not accept them. Unsure what was wrong with Mordecai (Esther had no knowledge of the edict), she then “summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai.” Scripture tells us “Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate” and “Mordecai told (Hathak) everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.” Mordecai also gave Hathak “a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.”

Armed with all the information, Hathak returned to Esther and reported all Mordecai had told him, including the need for Esther to go before the king and petition for the Jew’s salvation. I’m sure Mordecai thought this would be easy. Surely Esther could go to the king and win pardon for her own people. After all, the king had chosen her to be his queen.

I’m sure Mordecai was more than surprised…and even more so upset…when Hathak returned to Mordecai with news that Esther was reluctant to go to the king because it would run counter to the rules of the throne and could result in her death. She was additionally concerned because the king hadn’t summoned her for 30 days and she was afraid she might have fallen out of favor with the king. Note that Esther never seems concerned about herself being in danger from the edict. The feeling at first is that she is more concerned with her own self preservation than the preservation of her native people.

Well, when Mordecai received the message from the woman he had raised, he does what any wise elder would do…he counsels her to try and get her to see the wrong of her ways. Note these three key elements of what Mordecai had to say:

1. Pay now or pay later. Mordecai makes a very important point to Esther…she wasn’t going to be the only Jew to survive this edict. In other words, if she didn’t act on behalf of God’s chosen people and instead remained silent, she would face death at the hands of an angry God instead while the Jews found their deliverance in some other way. She should go forward and trust God in the matter even though the outcome was unknown.

Sometimes you and I need to take a step of faith when we’re faced with a dilemma. It would never be wrong to stand by and not try to intercede for innocent people who were going to be slaughtered, even if it meant that you would place your own life in danger. We may never be faced with life or death decisions but many decisions of right and wrong are likewise critical in the lives of those we are associated with. We need to always be willing to step out in faith and trust God in the midst of all circumstances.

2. Relief and deliverance were going to come one way or another. Note Mordecai’s words again…”For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place…” Mordecai knew that God was going to rescue His chosen, beloved people one way or another. If it wasn’t through Esther, then it would be from some other source.

When we’re in the midst of hardships, it’s important for us to adopt the faith attitude of Mordecai. We simply must trust and believe that God will deliver us through our circumstances…that one way or another, He is going to intervene and help us out because He longs for the best for us. That’s the nature of the God we serve.

3. Never underestimate what God is doing in and around you. Mordecai makes an important point to finish his words to Esther. He asks her to consider whether everything that had happened up to this point had been for the very purpose of helping save her people from this act of genocide. In other words, Esther becoming queen was all a part of His master plan of salvation for the Jews.

It’s important to know that we too may be in the midst of an awesome plan God is working out and our present circumstances might be as such for such a time as this. God is always doing amazing, extraordinary works and often times He is doing them through very ordinary people like you and me. We need only stay open to His will and way, knowing they will always be perfect…whether He is helping us directly or involving us to help others.

Mordecai’s wisdom had a drastic impact on Esther who told him to: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.” And then she added, “And if I perish, I perish.” Or in other words, God’s will be done…and if it’s His will for me to die trying to save the Jews, then so be it.

Indeed, this is to be our attitude as well. For remember the words of our Savior Jesus, the One who we vow to follow when we adopt the title Christian: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Friends, we need to ever remember that God never promised us that life would be easy. He only promised us that He would always be with us in life, no matter the circumstances. He would never give us a burden we couldn’t bear…and He would never leave us nor forsake us.

One thing is sure. God is always at work. He’s at work in us. He’s at work around us. And He’s at work well ahead of you and me…and our limited wisdom. We need to never underestimate what God is doing at any given time…for He may have been preparing us and the circumstances we’re in for such a time as this.

Will we be prepared to respond as Esther did…that if we need to die, then so be it for the cause of God?

I pray so…for it’s what God expects…that we trust Him and believe He will be using us for His ultimate good in any and all circumstances.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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