Preached Sunday, June 8, 2014 from Esther 4:1-17
Theme: God, in His providence, puts His people where and when He wants them for the advancement of His cause.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
One of the most wonderful things about God’s providential work in the lives of His people is the perfect view He has of His own plan—even as that plan spans across centuries and cultures—from the beginning of creation to the end of days. And He places His people where—and even when—He wants them to be, in the outworking of that marvelous plan.
What a comforting thing that is to know that He knows and decrees our place in it all!
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Let me tell you about a time—about a year and a half ago—when that knowledge struck me powerfully.
I have the habit of watching the morning news as I’m making my coffee—then of sitting with my coffee afterward to read my morning reading from the Bible. And one particular morning, the news was very discouraging. It just seemed as if it was one news story after another that made me feel as if the whole world was spinning out of control into ungodliness—and as if whatever the Bible says is becoming increasingly ignored or mocked. I found myself very frustrated by it all. And I even began to think something that’s not good to think: “Why did I have the bad fortune of being born to live in times like these? Why couldn’t I have been born in a time when the Christian faith is respected, and when righteous standards prevailed, and when people were honest and decent and God-fearing toward each other?” I found myself wishing I had been born back in the days of Little House on The Prairie (except, of course, with a good coffee maker).
And right after that, I sat down—all indignant and in a huff—to read my Bible. And the passage of Scripture I read made me ashamed that I had thought that way. It was Acts 17:26-27; where the apostle Paul spoke to the Athenian people and told them that God:
(H)as made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him (Acts 17:26-27a).
And I had to repent of my attitude. This passage in Acts was telling me that God not only appoints the places that people live, but also the times. He even predetermines the the boundaries of the nations and the periods of history in which they exist. And He does all this so that the people living in them will seek after Him and perhaps come to know Him in a saving way.
And ever since then, whenever I find myself tempted to ask the, “Why here? Why now? Why me?” kind of questions, I go back to God’s answer: It’s for the purpose of advancing His redemptive plan in the lives of people. He loves them, and wants them to know Him and be saved by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ.
That means, dear brothers and sisters, that God has us here—where He has us, and when He has us—for great purpose. When I think of that passage in Acts, I also think of another passage in the Bible. It’s one that’s found at the beginning of the Book of Philippians. Paul was in prison for having preached the gospel. I don’t doubt that there were times when he struggled with the question—sitting as he was in a dark prison—”Why here? Why now? Why me?” But after a while, he began to see that God had a great purpose in the situation He had placed him. Paul wrote to the Philippian believers,
But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear (Philippians 1:12-14).
I remember the first time I ever really encountered that passage. I was a relatively new Christian at the time; and my pastor had preached from it earlier one Sunday morning. I sat with him later that evening, got my Bible out, read that passage to him, and asked, “So, is it right for me to take that personally? Can I actually believe that the things that happen in life to me—if I am walking faithfully with Jesus—also fall out for the furtherance of the gospel? I mean, can I actually claim that for myself—just like Paul?” He thought for a minute and said, “Yes.” I’ll never forget that!—although (you’ll know what I mean when I say this), I often do forget it. Let’s just say that I’ll never stop going back to remember that again and again!
All this comes to my mind when we come to this morning’s passage in Esther. It is, in my opinion, the high point of the story. It’s when that wonderful question is asked of Esther that some of us know well: “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). When we read that question, we can answer, “The sovereign God knows; that’s Who!” And we can affirm that the same divine knowledge applies to you and me in our various circumstances of life.
Dear brothers and sisters; let’s stop clocking time through history! Let’s stop thinking of ourselves as mere temporal beings that fall into a series of meaningless occurrences and accidents. Let’s get a sense of God’s eternal purposes; and recognize that God has you and me here as His redeemed people—at this time in history, and in this place in the world—for a great purpose. Indeed, it’s “for such a time as this”!
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As this morning’s passage shows us, the sovereign God of providence puts His people where and when He wants them, in order to advance His cause and to serve His purposes! What an exciting truth to know! What exciting times to live! What an adventure God has placed you and me in!—an adventure that we may not yet see the full dimensions of, but that we one day will!
Look with me at Esther; and see that this is true . . .
1. THOUGH IT MAY BE IN TIMES OF GRIEF (vv. 1-4).
The times in which God placed the young woman Esther were times of great grief—times, most certainly, in which she might have wished she was somewhere and somewhen else.
This young Jewish woman was born in a time of the captivity of her people. Her ancestors had been taken from their homeland to Babylon because of their sins. Then, Babylon had been conquered; and now, she lived under the dominion of a different empire—the Median-Persian empire. Others of her people had left their captivity and had returned to her homeland; but she and her elder cousin—the pious Jewish man Mordacai—had not been among them.
As we discovered from the first few chapters of this book, Esther—a beautiful young woman—had been selected to become the queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus. From a place of obscurity, she had been elevated by God to a place of royalty and honor. And her cousin Mordecai—himself a man of influence in the king’s court—had encouraged her to keep silent about her identity as a Jew.
But when we come to Chapter 4, we find Mordecai in a time of great mourning and weeping. It had come to pass that the king had elevated a very evil man—Haman the Agagite—to the position of viceroy over the Persian empire. Haman hated Mordecai and the God he worshiped; and what’s more, he hated all the Jewish people. He cast lots in search of a particular day to destroy them all; and the lot fell upon the thirteenth day of the month of Adar—just a little over ten months away. Haman persuaded the king to give him the authority to announce that, on that day, all the Jewish people were to be completely wiped out, and all their goods and property confiscated.
The news of this decree—financed by Haman, issued with the full authority of the king, and declared officially throughout the kingdom—struck the whole capital city with terror and dismay. It was a decree that could not be reversed or annulled. And so, we find Mordecai as we see him in verses 1-2: “When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes [always a sign of deep mourning and grief], and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.” The king only liked to see things that made him happy; and people mourning in sackcloth and ashes would not fit the mood he wanted to have. But Mordecai went as close as he could to the king’s presence, and mourned as loudly and as publicly as he could in his official capacity.
And this was not only so for him. In verse 3, we’re told, “And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” You and I sometimes think we got stuck living in bad times; but our bad times were certainly not as bad as the times of Mordecai and his people!
It’s interesting to go on to read of Queen Esther’s reaction to it all. Verse 4 tells us, “So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her” about the way her cousin was behaving. I believe that she knew nothing of the decree. She only knew that her beloved cousin was in sackcloth—deeply mourning; and that so long as he was in that condition, he could not draw near to the king or to her; “. . . and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them.” Perhaps she wanted to smooth things over in a superficial way—take off the sad clothes and put on some happy ones—pretending that things aren’t as bad as they really are. But Mordecai wouldn’t do it.
And if I may pause here, dear brothers and sisters; our recognition of the fact that God is sovereign, and that He places us in the times and in the situations He wants us, doesn’t mean that we must ignore the reality of sin and suffering. We shouldn’t pretend that the times are not bad, or that the grievousness of sin is not painful. There are false religions and false philosophies that advocate that suffering is not real. But as James 5:13 tells us, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray.” If God has called us to live in bad times, let’s admit that they’re bad. That’s a matter of being real; and being real honors God. But let’s always be sure that we respond to the realities of hard times in the right way—by praying to the God of providence.
But let me add one more thing. We may, at such times, think of ourselves too much; and start whining, “Why did the people of God have to end up living in such bad times as these?” And yet, have you ever thought about how much harder the bad times would be for the lost and hurting people of this world if we—as the people of God—were not there? Jesus told us, “You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world . . .” (Matthew 5:13-14). If God has allowed us—as His redeemed people—to live in such bad times, it’s because He is showing mercy to the lost and needy people around us! Apart from our being in the world, they would have no hope at all; but with us there, the lost people of this world can hear a testimony of Him! They can see by our lives that God saves sinners! Let’s learn to thank God for giving us the privilege of being His instruments of mercy and hope in the hard places and bad the bad times of this world.
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Now; those first few verses show us Mordecai’s reaction to the times. Next, we see Esther’s reaction. And her reaction shows us that God places His people where and when He wants them . . .
2. THOUGH IT MAY BE IN SITUATIONS THAT OVERWHELM THEIR ABILITIES (vv. 5-12).
When she saw that Mordecai would not cheer-up, Esther wanted to know why. We’re told that she sent one of her trusted servants out—along with others who attended her—to find out why it was that he was dressed in sackcloth and was in such deep mourning. Perhaps too, rumors came to her of all the others of her people that were mourning.
When her servant inquired,
Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people (vv. 7-8).
And so, this news was conveyed to Esther. But that’s when she felt the overwhelming nature of the times and circumstances in which God had placed her. She may have been the queen; but how could even she go before the king with this matter? How could she do anything to help?
You see; there was an edict in Persian laws of court (and history seems to confirm to us that it predated the times of Esther); that anyone who dared to approach the king unbidden was to be put to death—unless it happened that the king responded to their approach by holding out his scepter to them; thus welcoming them and permitting them to live. When Esther heard the appeal of Mordecai, she responded by saying,
“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days” (v. 11).
It may be that, after the king had made her his queen, he had begun to neglect her. It may also be that his associations with the evil man Haman—and apparently, the excessive drinking that they engaged in together (see 3:15)—distracted him from many of the things he should have given attention to. But what a risk this was for Esther! If she came and was not received, she would be killed and could not be of any help at all to her people. If she was received by the king, but then informed him of the evil plan of Haman in such a way as to displease him—and to anger Haman in the process—she could make matters much worse for her people and for Mordecai. There didn’t seem to be any way—humanly speaking—that things could turn out good. She felt helpless and overwhelmed by the situation; thinking that there was nothing she could do that would be safe or wise to do. And that’s what she communicated to Mordecai.
And here’s something else for you and me to learn from Esther’s story. God’s sovereign positioning of someone in His place of calling for them isn’t because they are fully capable of being there in their own power; or because they are competent in the place He has put them. Often, in God’s call on your or my life, we will feel overwhelmed. “God, why me? I can’t do anything to help this situation!”
But God doesn’t put us where He wants us because we are sufficient. Rather, He puts us there to show that He alone is sufficient. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God . . .”
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So; word came to Mordecai from Esther. And Mordecai responded. And that’s when we learn a third thing. God is able to providentially place His people when and where He wants them . . .
3. THOUGH IT MAY BE IN CIRCUMSTANCES FROM WHICH THEY FEEL THEY CANNOT ESCAPE (vv. 13-14a).
I have often thought that it would be helpful if God would simply send me a written copy of His plan for my life—a detailed itinerary. But after thinking about this, I realized that it’s better if He didn’t. I might just run and hide if I read it! So often, He puts His people into situations that they would never have chosen if they could—and from which they would gladly escape if it were only possible.
That must have been how Esther felt. But her wise cousin Mordecai let her know that there really was no escape from the situation. He told those that she had sent to tell her, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews” (v. 13). Mordecai had instructed her not to tell anyone that she was a Jew; and it may be that, for that very reason, she was able to be raised to the throne as queen. But Haman was a madman—bent on his evil plan to eradicate the Jews from the world; and word would surely get out about her identity no matter how much she tried to hide it. God’s people really can’t ever hide who they are.
And besides, as Mordecai went on to say, “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place . . .” (v. 14). They are, after all, the chosen people of the covenant-keeping God of Israel; and He will not fail in His plans for those that He has chosen for Himself. He promised that King David would have a Son who would reign on the throne forever. He will keep His promise no matter what Esther did; “. . . but you”, Mordecai told Esther, “and your father’s house will perish.” There was, then, no real escape from the place that God had set her. She must act.
Isn’t it amazing how often God hems His people in to the place He wants them—even if they don’t want to be there? I think here of God’s call on Moses’ life. He argued with God every way he could; and yet, there was no way out for him. He had to go to Pharaoh. Or think of Jonah. He simply ran away from God’s call on his life; but it did no good. God made him go anyway—even if it was through the belly of a fish.
I believe that God will often call us to a place that we would never want to go—or even think we could go—in our own sufficiency. He often sends us to places that, if it were up to us, we would rather run from. But He sovereignly takes away every route of escape, so that the Lord can prove to us—in the only way we can really learn it—what Paul himself said; “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
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So; it may be in a time of great grief and suffering that God sovereignly places His people in His call for them. It may be in a place that utterly overwhelms them. It may be in a situation from which they wish very much to escape from—but cannot.
But God places His people in such situations . . .
4. SO THAT THEY WILL TAKE THE RISK OF TRUSTING HIM IN FAITH (vv. 14b-17).
Look at what Mordecai tells Esther! What great words they are! “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (v. 14). Could it be that, by the sovereign hand of the God of all providence, Esther came to the position of queen over the Persian empire, just so that she would be used by God to deliver her people from destruction? Who knows? Well; we—who know the rest of the story—know already that that’s exactly why God had placed her there! And I believe that Esther—fearful and uncertain though she may have felt—was beginning to realize it too.
And note that she proved it by acting in faith. She told her attendants to tell Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise” (v. 16a). We’re not told that this involved prayer, but we can be very sure that it did. They no doubt stormed heaven with their prayers, and begged God that Esther would be given a favorable reception by the king. She added, “And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (v. 16b). This wasn’t an expression of despair. It was rather a confident resignation to the will of God—one way or the other.
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And looking ahead into Chapter 5, we see what the outcome was.
Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter” (Esther 5:1-2).
God indeed answered her prayers and gave her favor in the place to which He had called her. Just how much was this so? When the king received her, he asked her, “What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you—up to half the kingdom!” (v. 3). What a blank check! She could now make a powerful appeal to the king for the lives of her people!—and in a way that only she, by the grace of God, could!
Let’s learn the lesson, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Our God is the sovereign God of all-providence. He is able to place His people wherever and whenever He wishes them to be, in order that they might serve His good purposes, advance His kingdom’s cause, and bring Him glory. If you love His Son and seek sincerely to follow Him, you can be sure that God has you where He wants you to be; and that He is able to place you wherever you will best serve His cause.
You are where you are for such a time as this! Trust Him and obey; and give Him the glory!