God Knows How To Save

Esther 4:1–3 (ESV) When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

A favorite phrase among the Jews (I learned this week from a podcast) is, "We survived, let's eat." Of course, that would refer to the countless attacks and campaigns to wipe out the children of Abraham from their inception. Mind you, it has never happened and it will never happen. Why? Because the Lord is faithful to work through the histories of societies and bring the right person to the right moment to bring them back from the brink. 

Now you consider this... the Lord was already working through Esther 1-3 to prepare them for salvation. Even though Esther and Mordecai do not make an appearance in the first chapter, their placement and positioning has taken hold under the auspices of Haman who hates them, and Xerxes who uses them! Consider in Esther 2 (and we didn't discuss this in the last post) that it was Mordecai properly positioned to hear the report of insurrection against Xerxes.

Esther 2:21–22 (ESV) In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai.

You have here a literal tool called foreshadowing. Mordecai will instigate Esther who will speak to the King to save someone's life. This is the exact framework for the salvation of the Jews from Haman's edict. Yet what you also see is that the Jews who serve these pagan kings well are the very people God will use to bring deliverance. The story of Daniel is filled with this same theme. God's people operate right under the nose of the world's leaders to guide His people toward continued existence. And the foreshadowing in Esther 2 is intended to let you know, God has this planned. The events are supernaturally guided and nothing can stop Him.

This is the good news for the Lord's people. We are always under His watchful eye and care. He will always do what is necessary to bring us through the troubles and threats we face. So don't lock eyes on the problem, look up to your Problem Solver.

Believe me when I say, I've often disbelieved. But God has ALWAYS come through. Every time I think, "Surely, this is the end", he works something else out in my favor. And it's not because I'm faithful. It's because He is faithful. Our job in the midst of darkness is to BELIEVE the light will soon dawn and a new day of grace will be upon us. 

Even in this chapter, we see that Esther who was brave and willing to speak for the sake of the King's life is hesitant to speak up for the life of her own people! What could that be? Intimidation and fear? Perhaps. Or maybe she had grown accustomed to the life of Persians and forgot her life among the Jews. Mordecai's warning was more directed at the later option in my opinion.

Esther 4:12–14 (ESV) And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Who knows if she had come to that place? God knew. He knew the whole time. While Xerxes was carousing for 6 months with his buds on golden couches (See Esther 1) and exiling Queen Vashti and then holding a beauty pageant to replace her (See Esther 2), God knew. He always knows. The most important question for you is, do you KNOW Him?