Hi friends!
I took my troubled heart for a walk this morning and returned filled with awe and faith in our amazing SOVEREIGN God!!
On my heart was a site I opened last night regarding Israel and her enemies..
As I started to talk to the Lord about it, He reminded me of an excellent story!
Queen Esther!
As I read through the chapters today it brought such encouragement and hope in my heart..
We all know that Haman’s plan was to exterminate the Jews!
(All anti-Semitism stems from Satan’s schemes to thwart the plan of God.)
The proud Agagite was but a mere puppet in the hands of Satan, who
sought to make void the promises of God: that from David’s house
should arise the One who was to bruise his head; the One who was to
“destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”
(Heb 2:14-15).
The entire Bible can be mapped as a drama in which Satan’s stratagems
are repeatedly foiled:
• the death of Abel at Cain’s hand;
• the corruption of Adam’s line in Genesis 6;
• the attacks on Abraham’s seed... in Genesis 12, 20, 50;
• The destruction of the babes by Pharaoh;
• Pharaoh’s pursuit through the Red Sea;
• the populating of Canaan in anticipation of Abraham’s promised
inheritance (a denial which the world continues to this day).
As God declared that He would be accomplish His program through the
house of David, the intrigues continued against David’s line:
• with Saul’s javelin at youthful David;
• when Jehoram kills his brothers (2 Chr 21);
• when the Arabians kill all (but Ahazariah);
• when Athaliah kills all (but Joash);
• when Hezekiah is assaulted; etc.
However, God cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2). God can always overturn
man’s diabolical efforts, sometimes by miraculous acts, and sometimes
through seeming acts of “coincidence” as in the forthcoming drama…
God is always working on behalf of His people. In Esther He is hidden
behind the scenes (and His Name has been discovered hidden behind the text!)
Anyway, with His promotion as Grand Vizier, it was looking good! (You could substitute many names for him: Pharaoh, Hitler, Arafat, Ahmadinejad…) and he had the power to see this EVIL plan through! (if God allowed it, that is!)
Using false accusations (that reminds me of someone!!) that ‘all Jews refused to obey the King’s laws’.. the King gave Haman the ok for his EVIL plan to destroy them..(the King not knowing that it was the Jewish people, including his queen wife that he was giving the thumbs up to!).. Got to be careful what you sign, ey!
I guess what Haman didn’t know at the time was Esther’s courage, Mordecai’s faith..and God’s invisible and MIGHTY HAND in His creation!!
In his grief and distress, Mordecai sends the message to Esther.. “to make supplication to him (the King) and plead before him for her people..”
Now we need to understand that going before the King uninvited meant that she could of lost her life.. The law was “put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden sceptre, that he may live”
Well Mordecai’s response to Esther was “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. Esther 4:13.. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
For such a time as this! I love that!
Esther’s reply to 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. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”
Oh wow Esther!! What a stance!! Wow!
Food for thought..
It was Esther’s interceding at the throne that saved the people of Israel
from slaughter.
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold
their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not
silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem
a praise in the earth. Isaiah 62:6–7
Esther survives the approach to the King.. the King is curious as to what she wants that would cause her to risk her life..
All she wants at this stage is a dinner with him and Haman!!
Haman is beside himself!! He runs off can’t stop boasting about the honour bestowed upon him of dining with the Queen!! This was not a common thing!
His joy lasted until he saw Mordecai at the gate, refusing to bow as usual!! So he is all stirred up with anger again!
So after dinner the King enquires again of Esther, what do you want? I’ll give half my kingdom!! And Esther’s response was, another dinner with you and Haman and then I will tell you!
His curiosity continues to ripen . . .
Well, but Haman is beside himself again!!
Now let’s rewind.. We don’t know why Esther gave the 24 hour delay.. (This turns out to be a critical delaying interval…) and I won’t read into now, but I do know that the King was sleepless that night.. so he called for some boring history notes to put him to sleep..
Of all the texts that could have been selected by the librarian, from
the records of Xerxes’ 12 years of rule up to that time, the one that
contained the account of Mordecai’s uncovering the assassination plot
(about five years before; cf. Est 2:16 with 3:7) was read to the king;
Est 2:21-23. What a coincidence! Umm.. no.. that’s not a kosher word remember!!
GODicidence!!! Our Mighty God was working undercover, behind the scenes!
And when the king was made aware that nothing was made to honour Mordecai well he freaked out!! Couldn’t wait till dawn to fix the problem!
Well in the meantime, Haman was being set up by the real ruler of the universe.. He gets the bellows ready to murder Mordecai and runs off to tell the king!! (*50 cubits high! what was he thinking!)
Feeling pretty good by now he was!!
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18
Selah Moment
Don’t we share in the larger, bolder, blacker portrait of Haman? Aren’t
we also prone to share the perverse nature of Haman? Is there a larger
application lurking behind this masterful tale (cf. Jer 17:9, 10; Mt 15:19)?
No amount of education, culture, or religiousness will eradicate evil. It
is in the nature of man. Only the new birth!
To be continued...........:-)
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