Esther’s Moment of Decision: Trusting God in Crisis

"Esther's Moment of Decision: Trusting God in Crisis"

I wanted to read if you'll look back in Esther chapter four verse number 14 where she said, go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan and fast for me. And neither eat nor drink three days, not a day to this world. But I think we're living in a global, in a time where the global situation is truly coming to a point where we're at a crossroads, even in the world globally as we look at it, around this planet.

The Bible was written approximately over a period, I guess we can say, of approximately 1500 years. In other words, from the first author to the last author, Moses all the way to John, 1500 as she counts. When we read about Paul's missionary journeys, what we're reading, the things we're reading about are not all the moments of these people's lives. These are moments of decision. These are moments of sacrifice. These are moments of ecstasy and joy and victory. These are moments where there were a lot of days and weeks and months and years that were in the silent spaces between the big moments of these people's lives.

So when we think about that, put yourself, think about your own life. There are moments in our lives that think about the day you're born, the day you graduate from high school, the day you get married, the day you have your first child, all those big moments. Maybe there's a close encounter with death that you had. Maybe there's the opportunity that you had to lead somebody to the Lord. There's big moments we might say in our lives. And yet there's a lot of little moments in between. And those things don't tend to get recorded in the scripture because certainly that's not what God had in mind to record all those little moments. But we can certainly see that we're looking at a big moment here in the life of Esther this morning.

But we have to be conscious that this big moment was precipitated or it was leading up to this big moment. There were a lot of details that brought Esther to this point. What we need to remember is that when we come, maybe we need to remember it more in the difficult times is that we didn't get there by accident. God purposely brought us to that place. He purposely puts us in the situations he puts us in for our good and Bible times that the greatest work of forming character in the lives of God's people has been through difficulty and not through ease, has been through challenge and through hardship.

I think about Abel as we look back in the Bible and he's the first one mentioned there I believe in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 of what we call the hall of faith sometimes. We look at his life. There's not a lot said about him in the Bible. His name even means breath or vapor. We like Abel were born to die, but Abel actually even in the little moments of our lives when the spotlight's not on, we just need to do the right thing. We need to make the right decisions because we're going to answer to the judge of all the earth. We're going to answer to the King of Kings. In fact, most of our life is made up of the little moments, isn't it? Most of our life is made up of the mundane things that we encounter on a daily basis.

But God in another sense, we can say the testings. You know, he doesn't put us in the ultimate test, he didn't put Esther in the ultimate test of her life without bringing her through some other tests along the way. Just like he's done our lives, I think about Abraham's life, how God put him through many testings to prepare him for that ultimate test on Mount Moriah where he would say, I want you to offer up your only son. In fact, that only son being the promised one through whom the blessings would come upon him as the Lord had promised to him.

So many of our hymns that we sing from the hymnal were written out of suffering that God put people through. And yet through that suffering, they found the character of Christ. They found answers to their prayers. They found blessings that came and peace that came after great wrestling and even times of anxiety. God brought the answer to them. The hymns become the words of the hymn become a condensation of what God taught that person about himself through the testing, through the trial. And that hymn doesn't necessarily tell us everything that happened to lead them to that conclusion, but it becomes a condensation of all that God has taught them and shown them for her. God was drawing her closer and he was saving a nation by means of this little vessel.

We noticed that Satan can only manipulate us through fear of man, fear of the future. He can only manipulate us through fear. God, on the other hand, can only use us as we bow and say, not my will, but thine will be done because I know you love me. And I trust you, I'm leaning on your arms. I want your way to be done, your will to be accomplished. But we do not need to be afraid. We read this morning from Hebrews that we were in the past our lives subject to bondage through fear of death. But we don't need to be afraid of death because First Corinthians 15 wins the night. Jesus Christ has conquered death. He has nailed sin to the cross and the sting of death is sin.

It says, there in verse number 17, that by faith, by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac's son, he put him on the altar literally, literally, not just figuratively, he put him on the altar. Because God expected that of him. God told him that's what he wanted and so he did it. Think about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they lived an extraordinary day, didn't they? They lived in days where the Chaldeans were invading Judah.

I talked to somebody this week, you know, they were talking about the election and said, you know, of course, every, it seems like I think is, you know, in this past few election cycles, there's more and more uncertainty that surrounds them. But the person was saying, you don't know what? I've heard the prophets, well, they lived that long, but I'm just saying, the prophets have been talking about Chaldeans are coming, the Chaldeans are coming, the Assyrians are threatening, they've taken Israel in the North, there was this threat, there was this uncertainty, there was a certain degree of wondering, what's gonna happen, and when is it going to happen? That was facing those people and yet, we noticed Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have been living in fear and yet, they did, they purposed. All complex situations resolved like the interpretation of dreams. He saw God, the three friends of his, saw God deliver them from the fiery furnace. They witnessed God shut the mouth of the lions. Daniel even lived to see the literal overthrow of Babylon, and he lived on into the Medo-Persian era.

We don't know what God's plan is for us, do we? But the next words they were gonna hear was, oh, well, off with your heads. They didn't know what they wanted in that fiery furnace. Whether or not the Lord was gonna deliver them, they didn't know. Daniel didn't know when he went into the lions' den that he was gonna come back out for sure. But you see back in the mundane times they had already made the, they had already made the settled decision that we're gonna serve the Lord, no matter what. We're just gonna worry about it. We're not gonna fret over it. They were ready to go. They had benefited no doubt from the prophetic ministry of a number, but I think Jeremiah that would have been certainly, would have been somewhat as ministry. In fact, we know that he was certainly in prison after Daniel and these Hebrew young folks went down to Babylon, but I think even perceived that he was already being persecuted for his prophesying. He was putting the stocks, Jeremiah 20 verse two, he was thrown in prison in chapter 32 verse two. He was lowered into a miry dungeon chapter 38. And yet he kept on persisting in his ministry.

Sometimes Jeremiah said, he said things like, you know, I said, Mordecai became an example to Esther. Just as it seems Jeremiah may have been an example, pretty sure he was an example. His ministry wasn't example to these young men before they went down into Babylon. In Esther's chapter one through three this morning, we didn't read those passages and we're not going to read those chapters, but just remember with me, if you're familiar of course, I'm sure you're familiar with it. But God makes, God just makes some more physically attractive than others. That's just part of his plan. So God gifted Esther in that way and in his providence, she was down in Persia as a result of the Babylonian captivity that had happened many years before. Like we're talking about with Daniel, and the young men that went down into Babylon and were put in prison. She was there, just as a result of the fact that they had initially gone into that captivity.

In fact, Daniel's prophecy that he would give in chapter eight, he reshawn. This is the Medo-Persian great city that Esther would also be in in the palace there with the king. Daniel, as well as Esther had undoubtedly learned very well the ways of the Persians. In fact, Esther was so well-learned in the ways of the Persians because she just grew up in it that nobody even knew that she was a Jew. What even knew that she was a Jew. Just one of them. Well, all of this was part of God's providence, the natural beauty, the placement of where she was to be born, her knowledge of the customs and the ways was all part of what God was going to use. Just as he continues to use people to accomplish his will, our personality, our physical features, our place of birth, our generation, our culture, all of that plays into God's appointment for each of our lives. It plays in and we could name a number of other things that play into that, but it's all part of his providence, his plan for us.

Chapter four is a turning point in the life of Esther, for sure. But really in the history of the Jews, I mean, there's the Feast of Purim. Today is the remembrance of what God did through Esther. This is not a biblically appointed feast that we find in the Pentateuch, but it's one of the Feasts of the Jews, that they still remember to this day, the overthrow of Haman. So the pivotal reality, we could say, of this whole thing has to do with Esther's heart and her response to God, her response to him. Now, God could raise up deliverance from another place, as he said, but he chose, just like he chose Mary. Little, no-name Mary from Nazareth. God loves to use the small things, doesn't he? He delights to use weak and small and base things to do his will.

Now, we notice that God, while he was not limited to her, the decision, the choice was placed in her lap here in this situation. You've got Mordecai, he's lamenting, he's wailing, he's crying, he's got sackcloth and ashes on him. He is trying, he's out before the king's gate, he's not supposed, of course he couldn't go in, maybe killed, but we notice that he's trying to get the attention so Esther will find out and say, what is going on Mordecai? This cousin that God had appointed in her life, it's good for us if we have an example in our lives. Someone who will point us to, and maybe even we might say, hold our feet to the fire and accountability of the God. And Mordecai was willing to die himself. In fact, he was, he was getting on thin ice here with the things he was doing, but he was calling upon Esther to take her stand because she had a voice and she was in a position where she could be used with God to stop this atrocity that was impending.

Now, I think of Nehemiah, remember what was said of Nehemiah? Nehemiah chapter two, it came to pass in the month, Nisan, and verse one of that passage in the 12th month. I'm sorry, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes the king that wine was before him. Nehemiah says, I took up wine, upped up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been aforetime or before time, sad in his presence, wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid and said unto the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers lieth waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

We see that this was a very delicate situation with Nehemiah as well, just as it's gonna be with Esther, because if the king does not look favorably upon you, if the king doesn't believe you have a legitimate excuse for coming into his presence or for saying the things or having a sad countenance because he doesn't want any, you know, negative vibe to this palace, it could be off with your head. And so Esther's conscious of this, you're not supposed to go into the king unless he bids you come. And let's say, as you come in here, I have to talk to you. No, this is not what you do. But she also realized in this passage and Mordecai helped her realize this is life or death here. This is a matter that is very serious and it involves more than just your life. You make it away. If you shirk your duty in this, you make it away with your life, but rest assured that God will deal with you, that God will not overlook this in your life.

Esther's realizing, kind of like the children of Israel did. We've got the Egyptian army behind me. And I've got the Red Sea in front of me. I've got to look up to God because either way is a bad decision. I can't run back and I'm afraid to go forth. I've got to look up to God for help. In fact, Mordecai, you pray and fast for me. Get the Jews to pray and fast for me and me and my maidens and I will do the same. And yet, kind of like the Hebrew children that go into the fiery furnace, God is able to deliver us. But if he doesn't, it's okay. She had already made the moment. She made the decision. She made the choice. My life is not, my earthly life is not important in doing what is clearly God's will for me. I could save my life, but I will lose it. Or I could serve God with my life. And it may be taken, but I will certainly keep it unto life eternal.

We know that maybe Esther did already trust in the Lord, but it became apparent in this moment that she did trust in God. It became apparent by her choice of life that she really did trust God and not in herself and not in the king. We noticed that Moses forsook Egypt's counting it greater riches to follow God and leave the palace than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and end. So doing, he made it clear where his choice was. His choice was with God. You know, we could choose safety in this day and time and we could say, well, we'll just play it safe and burden not live for him. But ultimately, those who choose safety end up being lied to, don't they? They think they're taking a safe path and yet that ends up in ultimate destruction.

I remember the quote that Robert E. Lee made. He said, we must commit ourselves in adversity to the will of a merciful God as cheerfully as in prosperity. That's so true. We must commit ourselves to a merciful God to his will, even in adversity, just as cheerfully as we do in times of prosperity. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not know if they'd come out the other side of that furnace, but they said, we're not careful to answer thee, O king, in this matter. We will serve God. We're making that clear.

I was hearing the letter that Adoniram Judson wrote to his future father-in-law being read on the radio this week and that really struck me. He said he was writing asking for his daughter Anne's hand in marriage, who he would ultimately marry. But this is not the entirety of that letter, but this is part of it. And I think it was very impactful. He said, I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring to see her no more in this world. Of course, you know he would go to Burma. But he says, whether you can consent to her departure for a heathen land in her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life, whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean, to the fatal influences of the Southern climate of India, to every kind of want and distress, to degradation, insult, persecution and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all of this for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you? For the sake of perishing immortal souls, for the sake of heaven and the glory of God. Can you consent to all of this in the promise of meeting your daughter in the world of glory with a crown of righteousness, brightened by the acclamations of heathen now saved through her means who will be there praising her savior?

You can tell that Adoniram Judson did not write that letter lightly. And I just thought, you know, is there no foe for us to face? Is there no cross for us to bear? And I think about Esther. But the days in which we're living, we don't know what's ahead, but let us, let us be careful to trust in God and not to be afraid of man and to be afraid of the future. Let us, let us not be careful about whether we're gonna do what God wills for us to do. Some things we don't even know what it will do for us to do yet, but there's some things that we know that are clear that we ought to be doing. And when the time comes for us to do other things, we'll make it clear if it comes to the point where one day we must stand and give an answer for our faith before a hostile council. God will give us the words that we ought to say in that moment, the Holy Spirit will give them to us.

Job did not know whether he would live through the things he went through. He did not know if he was gonna make it through, but he said, he knoweth the way that I take and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. I think about Paul, he didn't know when he went up to Jerusalem, what things would be for him there. He said, he didn't know. And yet he said, I count not my life dear unto myself, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. Are we gonna be anxious people? Are we gonna be fearful people? Are we gonna be complaining and bitter because God chose us to live in the time that He did? We have things relatively comfortable still right now. That's not guaranteed. It's gonna keep being that way.

What was Daniel thinking? What was Daniel praying about? How was he preparing his heart? He didn't just automatically get ready as soon as he showed up in that den. He was already being prepared back at home. He was being prepared back home. We're raising children. I remember there was another young man, a Christian young man that lives in this area. My mom was sharing with me. We grew up with them in the homeschool group and he shared something one time about, you know, we need to be like, what were Daniel's parents like? You know, what were, you know, what we may be raising children that are going to be going into the fire of this. They may be standing before kings, so to speak. They may be giving an answer. We need to be not fearful ourselves but we need to be, we need to be setting an example. Like Mordecai for an Esther. We need to be setting an example of trusting in God and not being, biting our fingernails, but giving that confidence by our own walk with the Lord that they can trust him fully for the times that are before us.

The Lord has given us our lives not for us to use for ourselves but to live for him, he's given us our lives so that we can give them back to him. That reminds me as we close today of the words of a man by the name of George Matheson. He wrote a hymn that we sing sometimes, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go. And he was, he was a man who actually suffered in his schooling in college. At university, he suffered blindness. He went blind while he was at university. He was in a relationship with a young woman and they were engaged to be married. But when she found out he went blind, she turned her back on him and left him and it broke his heart. And then a few years later when his sister got married, he said he felt the greatest emptiness and the greatest loss. As he was happy for her, but it was so hard for him because he had hoped to be married and he wasn't married. And it was out of that moment, it was that very low point in his life that the Lord, he said the word just, the Lord just came to him and strengthened him and rebuked him even, but brought him the words to this hymn that he wrote.

And I don't have all the words to that hymn, but there's some words that I wanted to share with you before we close today. He says, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go. I rest my weary soul in thee. I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths, its flow may richer, fuller be. One of the lines he says, I yield my flickering torch to thee. This was a pivotal point in his life, in the life of George Matheson, where he could have become very bitter about the things that he had faced. He could have kept going to a very dark place, but thank God that he made the choice to say, Lord, here's my life, you take it and do what you want with it. And the joy that comes by laying that on the altar and saying, it's not my life anyway. You took that, you took my sight, you took that woman away from me for a purpose and do with my life what you want to do with it.

That is what God says to every generation. That's what God's dealing with us about, just as he dealt with Esther about it. Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, this is not your life. It's mine, give it to me. He won't take it forcefully, but he wants us to give it to him and say, it's not mine, it's yours. May God help us, as parents, may God help us, as grandparents, may God help us as children. To be usable, to be serviceable to the Lord. If we would be serviceable to him, we must be surrendered to his will.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the example of Esther. Thank you for the example of Adoniram Judson. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Abraham, Job, Paul, so many Lord who have lived. We read about the moments of crisis. We read about the moments of great decision and we see the wonderful fruit that came out of that. But Lord, we must remember that when they were going into those moments, it seemed like, it seemed like perhaps this could be the end. It seemed to them like, you made that their life was flashing before their eyes, so to speak. And yet you brought a great peace and rest to their hearts when they gave you back the life they owed. And Lord, help each one of us to truly, truly surrender all and do that. If we, in our lives, if we are parents, if we are children, if we, whatever age we are, Lord, how greatly you can use a surrendered vessel. And we pray that you would help us in the times ahead. Use us, Lord. Help us to be available and at your disposal to do your will. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.