Esther 3

I first read Esther 3 a week or so ago. While I understood the story, I failed to see the importance of what is taking place in the chapter.

In that first reading, I appreciated Mordecai’s faithfulness to his faith. He was being commanded to bow to Haman, and as a Jew, Mordecai was having no parts of it. Unfortunately for Mordecai and the Jews within Xerxes’ reign, Haman was given the authority to use the Xerxes’ signet to declare that all of the Jews should be killed. He even had a date planned. As providence would have it, though, that date was a ways off and there would be time to twist Haman, and his plan, into a very secure knot.

According to McGee and my handy study Bible, Haman was a descendent of the Amalekites. The Amalekites are the people that Saul was commanded, by God, to wash off the face of the Earth. Well, Saul disobeyed, and that ended up being a very bad thing down the road…just look at what Mordecai is facing. Need I say more? Well, there is one other thing. The Jews within Xerxes’ influence aren’t just a scant few, located in an area the size of Iran. The kingdom of Xerxes spanned parts of present-day Asia, Europe, and Africa. As McGee stated, the Jews would have been completely annihilated.

So, if you know the Bible, you know where I am headed: Two of the promises that come to mind, as stated by McGee, are the promises that God will always take care of His people, and that God would curse those that cursed the Jews and bless those who blessed them. (Take note politicians!)

Through God’s providence, He kept His promises to his people. He knew from the time Saul disobeyed Him that He would have to make a way for His people.

How awesome is this message?

Just think: So often we find ourselves in unpleasant circumstances, or we find ourselves in a steady holding pattern of “wait”. In both instances it is common to wonder where God is. We get caught up in what we see as immediacy and the drama. God, all along, has planned our route, how He will bless us, and has lovingly plotted out our steps, so that eventually, we will be blessed by Him and experience what he had planned for us all along (and you know we all fret during that period).

This is why it is so important to give God His proper honor. I know I am so weak in that area at times. I get frustrated with waiting, and I feel like God is just watching me. He is, however, at work all along, guiding us and providing His providence to keep us on His map.

You know what else happens when we get consumed with negativity and angst? We begin to make those things we are trusting God for a god in themselves. God is bigger than all of it.

McGee stated it best: “God moves in the affairs of men by His providence.”

The past year, I have been working on not allowing the desires of my heart and the things around me to be bigger than God and His will. It isn’t easy, even when I know full well how powerful God is. However, I find myself giving things to God more and more, with more acknowledgement of just how in control of things He is.

Sadly, it has taken me 41 years to understand that nugget.

Haven’t forgotten

My brain has been too consumed with work and stress to sit and think clearly about what God wants to teach me through His word.  I tried, tonight, but my brain and my heart weren’t in the right place.  I’ll resume my study of Esther soon, within days, hopefully.  For now, I will share this song by Keith Green.

Before I gave my life back to Christ in 1992, I had no real love for anyone.  I was full of anger and hated the world.  Since 1992, God has taught me that loving others is more important than anger and more important than just expecting others to love me; after all, that is the most selfish kind of love all.   It is the one consistent thing God has been teaching me.  Imagine how truly wonderful life would be if we spent our energies loving others, rather than finding fault or ways to be critical.  Love begets love, most times.  You will always know that you did the right thing and tried to be an earthly reminder of God’s love for others…no matter how flawed we are, that love will always shine through.

Have a great week!

The Holy Spirit & Prayer

John 14:16-21
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever ; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans ; I will come to you. 19 “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

This evening, I was reading a devotional that I receive by email, daily.  In it, Dr. Charles Stanley  discusses the Spirit’s role in our prayers.

I know there are a lot of times where I wonder if God hears my prayers, as I am sure some of us wonder at times, too.  However, I am always reminded and encouraged by answered prayers and their evidence helps me to understand that I pray as I do for a reason.  I’ve noticed recently when I feel “directed” to pray for others and situations and when it is just me.

I don’t know how to explain it, but it is for-real.  It has certainly been working to humble me, for sure.

Even in our prayers, we have to realize, it is not us, but God using His Spirit to work in us and others for His ultimate Glory.  Nothing more, nothing less.

HERE is the link for the devotional if you are interested in reading.  Also, there was a devotional on the work of the Spirit yesterday…might be the theme of the week.

***I’ve been super busy and have been dealing with a nasty, almost bronchitis-like cold the past week or two, so I’ve gotten pushed back further on my study of Esther.  However, it will resume in a week or so, after I get caught up on my school work.

Sorry.

If only…

When I heard this song, tonight, I wished I had the guts to say these things.  Guess, that is kind of the point of the song.

I think I should be able to resume my study of Esther Wednesday evening. 

I haven’t forgotten. . .

I’ve been really busy with work and life…I’ll get back to Esther in a few days.  Until then, enjoy this song that has a simple, yet very important message. 

 

Esther…the rest of Chapter 2

Well, I’m back (finally) to continue telling you what I’ve learned in my study of the book of Esther.

When I last wrote on the topic, I left you with a diminished, depressed king who needed to replace his wife.  He had a change of heart after kicking her out of the palace, but his new rules wouldn’t allow him to bring her back into the palace.  So, his “people” set up a beauty contest.  It kind-of-sort-of reminds me of Cinderalla:  have a bunch of available women in for a look-see and pick one.  Well, there was more to it, and I highly doubt there were any ugly stepsisters involved.

Among all of the beauties invited to King Xerxes’ palace for the parade of beauties, was a young woman named Esther.  She was there because her cousin, Mordecai, who had raised her, had her entered into this contest.

The one thing he asked of her was to not acknowledge her heritage.  They were Jewish and they lived in a land of anti-semites.

Long story short, Esther was the clear winner during the process, and was chosen by the king to be his new queen.  When he did this, somehow, perhaps at Esther’s polite bidding (remember, not-so-polite behavior got Queen Vashti de-queened) Mordecai was given a “new position” in the king’s gate.  Do you know what they did at the king’s gate?  Settled legal matters.  Mordecai was made a judge.

It was while Mordecai was sitting in his position at the king’s gate that he overheard things that would save the king, and eventually,  the Jews.

So, now that I’ve given you a re-telling of the story a little, let’s look a little deeper:

The contest, concubines, and the will of God…
Now, as someone who has lived a life outside the will of God, I know that as He has purposed, “it” (whatever He has willed) will come to pass no matter what we try to do.  If indeed it is something He really, really, really wants to have happen,   He will use us in spite of ourselves.  That is the case with Mordecai and Esther.

According to my study Bible and McGee, Mordecai and Esther were part of the Jewish faction that decided to not return to Israel when their exile ended.  They were commanded to return.  They did not, and stayed in a country where they were not necessarily able to be “free” to practice their faith; however, there is no real evidence that they put their religious beliefs into practice, either.  (Quick note:  religion is not the same as an abiding faith in God…just thought I’d mention that tidbit.)

So, they were not practicing Jews (aside from it being their heritage and how they identified themselves), made no mention of God, and had agreed during this time, at Esther’s entrance into the beauty contest and when she became queen, that they would not make mention of their Jewish heritage.  They would be denying God, in other words.  Marrying a non-Jew was a HUGE no-no (marrying someone who does not share the same faith in God is a no-no, period), AND had Esther not become queen, she would have spent her life as a concubine.  I dare say, none of those things would not have been the will of God.

Also, important to note, is that Esther did not deny her her cousin, Mordecai.  She honored his advice, requests, and took his words to the king’s ears.  In her position as queen, she did not demean him, nor did she ignore him.  They had a very good relationship.

As I stated earlier, I know what it means to be outside the will of God.  You run your life, thinking you are doing the right things, especially if you haven’t been “struck by lightning,” and you sometimes have the idiotic thought, “Hmm…God must be okay with this.”  It isn’t that He is okay with what you are doing, but that He will take what YOU have given Him, and He will turn it into something for His glory, if He so wills.

And that is why we are, at times, in the right place at the right time…

This is not because we have done anything the right way.  It is because God is the one in control and He will be in the situation to do His will.  Why?  Well, in Esther, for example, as we will see in Chapter two, there is a plot on King Xerxes’ life.  Why would God save him, a pagan?  Because he will be needed later down the road.  But, for now, we turn our attention back to Mordecai…at the gate.  He overhears the plot on Xerxes’ life, informs Esther, and she makes sure that Xerxes finds out about the plot.  The two would-be assassins are hanged.

This will be very important to Mordecai, Esther, and the Jews later, as there will be a plot to exterminate the Jewish population.  God promised that would never happen, and in spite of people who turn their collective backs on Him, He will keep His promises and His will can never be thwarted.

When we look back on our lives, we often see God’s Providence…or as McGee puts it, “The way God leads the man who will not be lead.”  We will see this more in the chapters to come.

Mercy

Isn’t it awesome how God shows His mercy?  Imagine how much sweeter life would be if we all showed each other the same kind of compassion.  Wow!

I will resume the “study” of Esther this weekend.

What is your favorite Bible verse/passage?

My favorite verses are II Corinthians 5:17-18:  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…”

These two verses came alive for me in 1992 when I gave my life back to God.  The word that resonates is “reconciliation”.  God never closes the door on us.  He always leaves it open for us to come back to Him.

I was listening to a minister last night who brought up this verse in relation to how we minister to each other.  When we look at God’s example of the “minstry of reconciliation,” how can we deny anyone, knowing that God would never deny us.

Esther 2:1

Just one verse, today.

Esther 2:1
Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her.

Seems pretty mundane, a transition, doesn’t it?

Well McGee had a lot to say about it, and while I was reading his interpretation, I thought of some things on my own.

McGee discussed how after all of the lavish party-throwing and excess, Xerxes went on to lose his campaign against the Greeks.  While Xerxes had the power of numbers, the Greeks had power in strength.  When a defeated Xerxes returned home, he realized that he made a major decision that he could not “take back”.

Xerxes rejected his wife:
1.  She made him look weak in front of others.
2.  He was drunk.
3.  He got angry.
4.  With the help of weaker men than he, the king made sure that law was enacted to not allow Vashti to be queen ever again.

He wishes he could take it back.  That “remembering” what he had done was now coming back to bite him a little.  He was lonely and defeated.

I wonder if men ever regret rejecting women.  Let me take that back for a second (well, I didn’t decree anything, so I guess I can have do-overs).  I wonder what reasons men have to reject women and then if they ever regret allowing those reasons to reign over the decision making.  (I’m really good at the this stream-of-conscience, digression thing, huh?).

In any case, we know Xerxes remembered.  And by virtue of the next verse that states his people decided to have a beauty contest of sorts to find him a new queen, it can be surmised that he was in need of a companion.  And as what seems to mirror our times, depth of character and a good heart don’t matter much.  This isn’t the Miss America version, this is Miss Universe…all looks.

Luckily for him, though, his choice will not only have beauty, but she’ll have a good heart that is moved for her people.  A heart respectful of her husband and one that garners favor with him, because of her integrity.

So you say, “Where is God?”

He’s there.  Remember, He has the power to rule the world.  He isn’t moving us around like chess pieces, but God decides what His will is, and despite our best efforts, it will not be thwarted.

He will move, allow things, not allow other things, and He will guide the direction in folks’ lives…believers and non-believers alike, so that His will is done.

Pharaoh had to learn that lesson during his interactions with Moses, as have other leaders/rulers, and ordinary, plain folk like us.

Oh, and to go back to my earlier digression…
Next time you are moved emotionally to do something, especially something rash and impulsive (like banishing your spouse, heh), ask yourself if you will eventually regret it.

See, when I read this passage and McGee’s interpretation of it, all I thought about were hasty decisions, hasty rejections, and regret of those actions.  I thought it would be best to just focus on the one verse, so that those thoughts didn’t distract me from the remainder of the study.

At the verse’s core is the description of Xerxes returning home, his efforts defeated, and then the afterthought of what he had done to his wife in drunken anger and hurt pride.  However, there is something there for all of us to glean about our own behaviors.

Just because…

“For every Mountain”–Kurt Carr Singers