Choices

Esther 5

This chapter shows us the difference between someone who serves God (even though God is not mentioned), and someone who serves himself. Esther exemplifies the person who serves God at all costs. If you remember from reading chapter four, Esther explained that no one was to approach the king without being summoned. If anyone were foolish enough to do this the law required they be put to death. They could be saved, however, if the king extended his gold scepter and spared their life. In addition, it had been over a month since Esther had been summoned by the king. After three days of fasting, Esther got ready. Imagine what was going through her mind at the time: she might die today. As she made her way to the palace she was still safe, but there was, no doubt, a sense of foreboding hanging over her. Then the critical moment arrived when she crossed the line between safety and peril, between life and death. She stood in the inner court and her foreboding became reality: she had been sentenced to death merely by her presence in this room.

The Bible doesn't say how long she waited-and wondered, but when the king saw her he was pleased and extended the scepter to her. "What is your request?" he asks. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet Esther asks the king and Haman to come to yet another banquet on the following day. We don't know why she did it this way, but the main point is she put her life on the line.

That brings up the issue of what would motivate a person to jeopardize their own existence? We know Esther's story, what's yours? What are you willing to die for? This is a critical question because it reveals what's important to you. Even more, if there is nothing you are willing to die for, then what is your life? Is there no larger purpose, nothing more important to you than you?

There is another kind of dying. If you are a follower of Jesus, consider this: Jesus said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." The cross, of course, was an instrument of death. We are to take it up every day. You can't physically die every day, but you can die to yourself. That's what Jesus means here by "deny himself". That's exactly what Esther had to overcome. She had to deny her comfort and security. She had to put aside what was important to her-even her own life-and serve God. She had to violate the laws of the king so she could serve the King of Kings.

This brings us to Haman. Haman served himself, but in doing so he became a slave. Note first of all, he was a slave to other people's actions. He was happy that he'd been invited to Queen Esther's banquet, but enraged that Mordecai "showed no fear in his presence." Why would Mordecai matter to Haman at all? He was just a guy. He had no power or position or influence. It's only because other people's opinions of him really mattered that Haman reacted the way he did. Mordecai had a lot more power over Haman than Haman had over him. Haman wasn't a real person. He didn't have his own light, he just caught the occasional reflection of other people's light. The gallows wasn't even his idea.

Haman was also a slave to his emotions. He's happy one moment, enraged the next. He boasts to his family about getting the big invite to the banquet and suddenly he's whining again about Mordecai. I picture Haman as a corpulent bureaucrat who had no real talent, but knew just enough to get in the king's good graces.

All of this to say that there are two ways to live: serve God or serve yourself. Esther served God, gave up her life, and became greater, stronger and more of a person than she could possibly imagine. Think of this for a moment, which would have been better for Esther: if she'd stay in her comfy harem eating the best foods with not a care in the world, or putting her life on the line for God and her people? Which would have given her more fulfillment and satisfaction? It's pretty obvious. The point is that when we lose ourselves in God we gain back so much more. By contrast look at Haman. He served himself and as a result, lost himself. He became a caricature of a human being with no real substance.

Like Esther and Haman the choice is yours.

The Darkest Hour

Esther 4

(Note: It has been over three months since my last post. I just got busy last spring, and then I got out of the habit of writing. I really hope to be more consistent.)

 

When Hitler decided, in the summer of 1941, to attack Britain, he began bombing London. This prompted Prime Minister Winston Churchill to exclaim: "This is England's darkest hour." It wasn't just England's darkest hour, Hitler was working overtime to exterminate the Jews as well. We call it the Holocaust for a good reason. As bad as the Holocaust was, it was not the first time in Jewish history when someone tried to wipe them out. We have been looking at the book of Esther in the last few posts. Today I wanted to look at chapter four. If you have been reading the earlier posts, you'll remember that Haman set a plan in motion to annihilate all the Jews. Take note of how Mordecai reacted when he learned of Haman's plot. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the city wailing loudly. In other words, he made a public display. Now compare this to Esther's reaction. When she heard about Mordecai she tried to get him to stop. Even after Mordecai explained the cause of his outcry she made excuses. To her credit, she ultimately came to do the right thing, but it took her awhile to get there.

What we learn from this is how we should respond when God's people are being threatened. (If you'd like a few statistics about current persecution against Christians, see my last post.) We need to speak up and we need to step up. Theologian B.B. Warfield said: "It would be impossible…for a moral being to stand in the presence of perceived wrong indifferent and unmoved." We see all of that in Mordecai. He "spoke up." He reacted immediately and publicly. He exhorted Esther to do what she could to talk to the king. His words to her are powerful: "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Today we might not have the kind of access Esther had, but we do have a voice. We can write letters, we can use the internet, we can vote (Nov 4^th). Mordecai's question "Who knows…?" addresses the fact that we only have "now" (ie. 'such a time as this'). Every appropriate action, every righteous deed, every good work is going to happen now, in the present: "The eternal now."

But there is more. Note that Esther finally gets it. She says: "I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." She "stepped up." In my next post we will look at chapter five to see exactly what Esther did, but for now it's enough to say that she quit making excuses. Esther came to that place we all need to be where she saw that her personal comfort/safety was less important than doing the right thing. There is incredible power and clarity in doing the right thing. All other decisions are, or should be, a subset of the decision to do what's right. I think most of our excuses tend to revolve around two issues: time and money (at least they do for me). You know how it goes: "I don't have enough time," "I don't have enough money." But is there no wiggle room? Stop and ask yourself, "Are all the things I spend my time and money on really necessary?" Our lives need to be governed by principles, not by circumstances. If you don't speak up/step up the Lord will probably use someone else to accomplish his purposes. But he wants to use you! Serving God is your best, greatest thing. Just do it.