Esther II, Ch. 3-6

 Esther II...chapters 3-6

   This is a message about doing the right thing even when it is hard.  We are all challenged in this area.  Sometimes we are quiet when we should speak, and other times we speak when we really should be quiet. Why do we not speak when something needs to be said?  

Usually others are speaking anyway I say often , and let them speak if they think they need to. That reminds me of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. " Some people without brains do an alwful lot of talking " he said to Dorothy,  because he didn't have a brain---only straw. Dorothy said, " You're right."

Two verses in ch 4 stand out in this section ch 3-5 or 6.  In Ch 4 Esther is told by her uncle Mordecai of the decree 3:15 that the King had made. This was because Haman the King's prime official was angry with Mordecai, the Jew, because he would not bow down to him.  Haman gave money to the king to have the Jewish people destroyed., ch 3: 11-13

Mordacai encourages Esther to go to the King about this. " The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings."  George Muller ( a man of prayer and of the Word who did orphan work in Bristol, England)

A longer quote from CS Lewis helps us identify pain and its process in our situations:"  CS Lewis Daily -

If the first and lowest operation of pain shatters the illusion that all is well, the second shatters the illusion that what we have, whether good or bad in itself, is our own and enough for us. Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying when ‘all’ does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St Augustine says somewhere, ‘God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.’ 

Or as a friend of mine said, ‘We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.’ Now God, who has made us, knows what we are and that our happiness lies in Him. Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as he leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for. While what we call ‘our own life’ remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him. What then can God do in our interests but make ‘our own life’ less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible source of false happiness?"

From "The Problem of Pain"

( or another shorter way to put it is, " I am from the government and I am here to help you.... &even church sometimes......We all make errors and should admit them when we do so. ")

The  vs I wish to highlight in ch. 4 :13-16

"13Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. 14For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 16Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. "

To those two vs. I say, " WOW"  She was in the right place at the right time.  

She did not act without praying and thinking .  She had a plan with fortitude (strength) and resilience ("People with resilience do not experience less distress, grief, or anxiety than other people do. Instead, they use healthy coping skills to handle such difficulties in ways that foster strength and growth, often emerging stronger than they were before in verywellmind.com").  

The Heidelberg Catechism is a close cousin to the 39 articles and it is simple but direct .

Q. What do you understand
by the providence of God?

Heidelberg Catechism A. 27- " God's providence is

his almighty and ever present power, 

whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds

heaven and earth and all creatures,and so governs them that

leaf and blade,

rain and drought,

fruitful and barren years,

food and drink,

health and sickness,

riches and poverty, indeed, all things,

come to us not by chance 

but by his fatherly hand. "

Her plan included going to the King with her request for her people. But she did not bring the important issue right away.  In ch. 5 she does go to the king. He listens to her request later.  First she invites him and her arch-enemy Haman to a feast.

She had indeed come to the kingdom for such a time as this. 4:14

I note many applications to us in these three chapters of the Book of Esther.  We have mentioned several of them. 

                 She listened to her godly advisors such as Mordecai.  

                She did not act in haste without planning and prayer.

                She saw the hand of God in her life even though there were plotters and wrong headed people against her.

Application- What are planning?  Is God prominent in our lives by our own seeking of His Will in our situations?  Do we know that if we are His children by faith that He desires to lead us?  

Just as Esther properly planned and prayed with listening to leaders and her people, so we too should plan and pray with God as our guide, our Father and our Judge.  In the middle of stress we can practice peace through Christ and His Word.  We can get support from others in doing His will.  But we are the person who needs to make the decisions about our future and our plans.  No one can make the decision for us.  Crossroads mean challenges and even crisis times.  But through them God is there for us as our friend, mentor and support.

Let us pray." O GOD, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly; Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou would have us to do,that the Spirit of Wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, a Prayer for Guidance.