SHEGZNSTUFF | Scripture, Soul Care & Everyday Faith

There’s a phrase in the scriptures that in times past, always left me a little unsettled. It’s the places where it says, “…and God remembered.”

Those instances of its occurrence in scripture made me uncomfortable because from a human perspective, God “remembering” implies that God forgets, which then makes me even more nervous about a bunch of things I’ve requested of Him in the past. Here are three samplings of verses where God seemingly forgot stuff.

• Genesis 8:1 says, “God remembered Noah” (as if to say, “Dude, sorry about leaving you stranded on the ark. I forgot you were still alive after that whole worldwide flood thingy”).

• Genesis 30:22 says, “God remembered Rachel” (as if to say, “Oops, my bad. I totz forgot you wanted a child.”)

• Then in Exodus 2:23-25, it says, “God remembered” the children of Israel after some 400 years of slavery in Egypt (as if to suggest He was a forgetful grandfather who took a 400 year nap!)

There are a few more verses like that in other places in scripture, but for now, those are enough to leave us scratching our heads. The phrase “God remembered” was puzzling and bothersome to me because everything else I’d read in the Bible told me that God was perfect in knowledge and wisdom, thereby making it impossible for Him to ever forget.

• The Psalmist says in Psalm 139:4 that God knows every thought that passes through my mind before I can even formulate it.

• The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 46:9-10 that God was around long before ancient times even began, [hence He’s got madd data on pretty much everything].

• The author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 4:13 says that no secret event escapes His eye, and Matthew the Gospel writer says not even the birds in the Amazon forest fall ill apart from His will (Matthew 10:29-30).

So what in the world is happening? Does God suffer from short/long term memory loss or is the scripture simply trying to convey in human terms something too super-complex for my puny little mind to comprehend?

I’m obviously leaning towards the latter. In light of the Biblical evidence (that God is eternally brilliant), we’re compelled to understand the phrase “God remembered” as an anthropomorphism, (the process of assigning human characteristics to God so that He feels more relatable). The author’s intent in those instances where the phrase is used is not simply to offer comfort to the reader that God is aware of all things and is therefore aware of their need, but rather, that God’s intent to do what He has always intended to do is now being put into action. It’s literally God saying, “It’s time!” when the circumstances are perfectly aligned.

I take the time to explain that aspect of how God relates to humans in moments when we feel like He’s forgotten us because in this sixth installment of this blog series through the Old Testament of Esther, it would appear that God is finally “remembering” the dire prayer needs of the Jews in Persia and a particular good deed by His man in office, Mordecai.

The deed I’m referring to is an easily overlooked event that occurred at the end of Esther 2. In that account, Mordecai uncovered an assassination plot to take the king’s life.  He reported it to Esther who in turn conveyed it to the king, giving full credit to Mordecai. The matter was investigated, found to be true and the culprits were tried and executed. Unfortunately, Mordecai was never rewarded. He was simply given a high five, and his good deed was written down in the king’s journal.  

As you’ll learn shortly, though the king may have overlooked Mordecai’s good deed, God never forgot, but was in fact moving kingdom pieces around like a chess player waiting for the right time to reward his servant. In the four life lessons I'll be pulling out from Esther 6 in this blog post, you’ll discover that God’s delayed rewards are not a matter of Him suddenly remembering to show up, but are very much about Him choosing to bless us in the moments when it will do us the greatest good and bring Him the greatest glory.

Let’s do a quick recap to bring us up to speed on Esther 6. A Persian royal official named, Haman hates Mordecai and Jews in general. He has even gone as far as securing palace permission to commit genocide and annihilate the Jews. Queen Esther, Mordecai, and every Jew in Persia has prayed and fasted for three days to seek God’s deliverance. Esther has also approached the king to seek a pardon (and has been favorably received by the king), but is being tactical in how she goes about making her actual request. Haman, on the other hand, is increasingly infuriated with Mordecai and is counseled by his wife and friends to build a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall and impale Mordecai on it. Haman excitedly orders the builders to begin the pole project and hurries off at night to the palace to get official permission from the king to immediately have Mordecai executed.

That's the story so far.  This first life lesson is a little bit of a play on words in Esther 1:1 where it says king Xerxes has a sudden case of insomnia. Though it seems like any other sleepless night to us, the hidden sovereign hand of God keeping Xerxes's eyes open cannot be overlooked .

While Haman waits in the inner courts of the palace to be summoned by the king, God was busy taking sleep away from king. In the original language, verse 1 literally translates as, “the king’s sleep fled.” Make no mistake about it, this is a picture of God in motion, a picture of how God works behind the scenes when He “remembers” you. The king is an indirect enemy of the Jews because he signed the death-edict that has kept the whole city restless and sleepless for several weeks, possibly months (at least since the end of Esther 3). Now, God is causing that same restlessness to fall back on him!  This sleeplessness is actually the beginning of the spiritual breakthrough the Jews have been seeking God for in prayer, but we'll get to that shortly. 

To help him sleep, Xerxes orders his servant to read to him from the book of Chronicles where all his kingdom quests were recorded. By sovereign design, in the process of reading, the servant happens to come across the story about Mordecai’s foiling of the assassination attempt on the king. The king then inquires about Mordecai’s reward for that good deed and the servants tell him, “Nothing has been done for him.”

Clearly, it's time for the king to bless someone’s socks off!

It’s worth pausing here and pointing out that 5 years have passed since that moment at the end of chapter two when Mordecai rescued the king! That’s five years of waiting and feeling like heaven never even saw him lift a finger in its name. This of course leads us to a second lesson about God remembering.

God could have orchestrated events so that Mordecai was immediately rewarded way back then, but He providentially “distracted” Xerxes so that Mordecai’s deed wouldn’t really catch the king's attention till five years later when the reward would be most meaningful. Mordecai may have gained greatly were he rewarded and celebrated five years ago, but in light of what Haman is threatening (something God sovereignly knew would happen even five years ago), that reward would be most meaningful in this present season.

Once again, it’s not that God forgets to fulfill His promise in our lives; rather, it's that He is moving according to His schedule and in so doing, determining the best moment when His blessing will have the greatest exponential impact in our lives. 

When I look back on my life and think of how and when God answered certain prayers, I am so deeply grateful that He chose to work according to His calendar and clock, and not the timing of my request. While I have no ill will towards the girls I dated prior to meeting my wife, I am so thankful that those relationship ended when they did because when God finally opened the door for me to meet my wife, I was in a clearer state of mind and was more secure in my identity, then, than I’d ever been in any other season of my life. In other words, God “remembered” my prayers for a godly wife when I was most ready to receive it and when He was all set to lead her into my life.

You may find that God's delay in your life isn't about you being ready, but about the circumstances He's leading you into being ready for you to step into. 

Anyway, back to the palace.

Realizing that Mordecai was never celebrated and rewarded for his good deed, the king sought counsel and asked his servants to bring in any of his advisors who were present in the palace. Lo and behold, who was in the king’s court waiting to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on a pole? Haman! (Oh the sweet irony).

I find it interesting that once Haman enters the presence of the king in verse 6, the king doesn’t directly bring up Mordecai’s name, but poses a hypothetical question of what should be done for the man the king especially wants to honor. I don’t suppose the king knew Haman was secretly plotting to kill Mordecai, but I suspect the king was aware of Haman’s ego and ambition. Based on how Haman bragged about his wealth and influence at the party in his house in the previous chapter, we can surmise that the king may have been a little wary of offering him anymore power or influence than he already had. This dude probably wanted to be king himself! It’s for this reason that I believe the king’s keeps his request generic enough so that Haman doesn’t catch on.

As if to prove my point, when asked for what should be done for the man the king especially wants to honor, Haman, thinking the king was referring to him (because after all, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?”) says in verse 7-9, “For the man the king delights to honor, do this: Bring a royal robe that the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown on its head. Then give the robe and the horse to one of the king’s most noble princes. Have him robe the man whom the king especially wants to honor; have the prince lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!”

This is a good time as any to point out another life lesson about God remembering.

The truth is that God remembers the humble as much as He remembers the prideful; it’s just that He remembers them in different ways.

To the humble, God remembers them in the sense that He will suddenly show up to elevate them to a position of honor they haven’t sought for themselves [Like He did with Mordecai]. To the proud, God remembers them in the sense that He suddenly shows up to kick the legs out from under their stool so their kingdom comes crashing down [as we’ll see in a moment and in the next chapter with Haman]. It’s for both these reasons that James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 3:34; and 1 Peter 5:5 pretty much say the same thing).

The point? Stay humble while you wait. The question, of course becomes, what does true biblical humility look like?

The answer to that question is in Philippians 2:3-4 where it not only shows us what humility looks like, but also tells us what gets in the way of humility. In those verses, Paul instructs Christians to do nothing out of “selfish ambition”(wanting to do better than everyone else simply for the sake of being better than everyone else). He also instructs us to do nothing out of “vain conceit”, (getting angry and upset when others win, or in some cases, rejoicing when they fail). Instead he says, “… in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

So then, here is what humility is not. Humility has nothing to do with having a low view of one’s self.  Someone smart (whose name I honestly don’t recall) once said, “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, it is thinking less about yourself” [and more about the needs and interest of others]. That’s what Paul is getting at in those verses. Humility at it’s finest is others-focused. It is putting the interests and well being of others before yours, and it is deeply attractive to God.

While Mordecai has this lesson locked down, Haman is so wrapped up in his own prideful glory that he fails to see his kingdom slowly crumbling all around him. In his hastiness and pride, he has just stepped into a divine trap. After suggesting to the king a ridiculously elaborate parade for the man the king delights in (convinced the king was thinking of him), the king drops a bombshell on him. Feel free to smile as you read Esther 6:10,  “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”

Oh how I wish I could have been there to see the look on Haman’s face! Think about how humbling those next few hours would have been for him. Haman not only had to be Mordecai’s personal escort through the city, but he also had to dress him up personally! It’s a good place to once again reiterate that the scriptures say that God “opposes” the proud, as in, He actually fights against them and even “mocks” them .

But this blog post is not about one man’s failure, it’s about how God remembers His own.

Consider how great an honor this reward was for Mordecai. Being offered the king’s robe and horse is tantamount to being offered the present-day president’s personal secret service to escort you around town in his personal limousine motorcade, the beast! That sends a message to everyone who gets a glimpse of you that you and the king are tight and you are not to be touched! This, of course was what king Xerxes was intending to do. Xerxes wanted as many citizens of Susa as possible to see Mordecai so that they might aspire to similarly distinguish themselves in service to him.

Mordecai’s actions right after the parade tells us a lot about the king of humble man he was.  Esther 6:12 says, “Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate.”  In other words, he went right back to work. He didn’t try to leverage his 5 minutes of fame into a book deal, a TV special, or higher pay, but he simply went back to doing what he was faithfully doing before God honored him in the presence the whole city! This becomes even more telling when you compare he did to what Haman did right after he was honored by being invited to the most an exclusive party in the royal palace in Esther 5:9-12 (He basically went home and threw another party in his own honor to celebrate how wealthy and influential he was!)

In this chapter, however, roles have clearly been reversed and God is holding true to His word about what happens when we humble ourselves in His presence (or choose to walk in pride). Haman not only runs home covered in shame, literally, but when he gets home, he meets with even more awful news. His advisers and wife, after having heard all that happened to him at work, conclude that his luck in life has run out because the Jews are clearly a special people governed by a supernatural God.

You know what I was thinking when I read his wife and friend’s counsel in verse 13? Why the heck did you all not tell him this yesterday when you counseled him to build a 75 foot sharpened pole to impale him in?!?

There’s a lesson in there about asking God to help you marry the right wife and pick the right friends, but I’m not going to go there now because we need to wrap this up. Suffice it to say, while Haman is reeling from the calamity that is clearly about to befall him, news comes in from the palace that his presence was immediately requested at the 2nd party queen Esther was hosting (a party in which his evil plot will finally be exposed).

Though the chapter ends here, it will serve us well to remember that the behind-the-scenes sovereign hand of God in this chapter is in response to the whole city of Jews praying and fasting for three days. Though God’s will WILL be done regardless of human opposition and demonic schemes, He has ordained the heaven-moving program of prayer and fasting to guide His hands in the affairs of humanity.

So, while God remembering us centers around His putting into action what He always intended to do in the timing when it’ll do us the greatest good and bring Him the greatest glory, we still bear the responsibility to engage regularly in the act of calling on Him by faith in prayer. May God hear and remember your prayers today!

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I am by nature a starter.

At the present time, I have about two or three projects simultaneously being prepped for publishing or production, and at the same time, I’m heading up two committees established to reach two separate people groups in our region. My schedule for the Fall is also gradually filling up with a conference hosting gig and a churchwide prayer and fasting initiative.

I don’t tell you any of that to brag, but to point out the balance I’m still trying to find between a healthy ambition for success and a patient aligning of my plans with God’s timing. I’ve had experiences where I preempted God and rushed ahead of Him into a project, only to land flat on my face. Yet, I’ve also put myself in frustrating situations where I failed to plan and act because I thought God would show up in a burning bush to tell me what to do.

You may have experienced a similar struggle if you’ve ever wrestled with the question of how long to pray for something before actually acting on it. At what juncture does divine intervention intersect with human initiative?

It’s the question that this fifth blog post in our series through the Old Testament book of Esther attempts to address. Esther and Mordecai, along with every Jew in the city of Susa are facing a grave predicament. Haman, a highly influential and powerful royal official is plotting the genocide of the Jews. Though a queen, approaching her husband, king Xerxes to beg for a pardon presents an even greater danger because palace protocol dictates that anyone who enters the king’s presence uninvited could be instantly executed. So, Esther has called for a three-day national fast among the Jews, at the end of which she plans to approach the king. 

It’s in this account that we discover OUR role in seeking God’s help and HIS role in meeting us in our time of need. Though God never shows Himself in the story, we can’t help but notice a flurry of activities in the unseen heavenly realms as God orchestrates human efforts to set the stage for a mighty move of His hand. There are four lessons we can learn from this story. The first two lessons focus on human initiative in prayer and fasting, and the last two focus on the divine intervention aspect of what happens when we pray and fast.

Esther 5:1, "On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance."

In the blank space between the end of Esther 4 and the beginning of Esther 5, we are to understand that 3-days of prayer and fasting has passed. Prior to this, however, Esther was afraid and gravely concerned that she might be put to death if she broke palace protocol to approach the king like her cousin, Mordecai had requested. That was still very much the case on the morning of day three when she put her royal robes on to approach the king. In other words, the threat of being executed [if her husband was in a bad mood] was still very much a real and present danger.

During those three days of prayer and fasting, however, Esther was not idle. She was busy working on a plan, in spite of her fear. Think about how much faith in God this must have involved. We know from a few verses later that she is planning to invite king Xerxes and Haman to a party where she will make her request known. She also knows that Xerxes is very fond of parties [based on the events of chapter 1]. So imagine all the planning that would have gone into preparing a party worthy of a king during that three-day period.

Esther could have chosen to simply remain in her royal chambers and pray until God thundered from heaven and changed Xerxes’ mind, but rather, she chose, by faith, to act on what she believed God would do. She understood that victory would come at the intersection of human preparation and God’s providence.

I recently met with a young girl whom I would describe as “on fire” for the Lord. She has a passion and a clear vision to build a discipleship program for a group of kids she’s served with overseas, but due to a power struggle within the organization she serves with, her efforts are being stifled. She was feeling discouraged and came to me for advice and I essentially counseled her to do what Esther did. I told her to set three days aside to fast and pray for an open door, but at the same time, begin drafting out on paper the details of what her discipleship program would entail. My reasoning was that God’s blessings are sometimes sudden [at least from our human perspective]. If that opportunity she was hoping for were to suddenly land on her table, she needed to have something concrete, a completed first draft of her curriculum to hit the ground running with.

This is exactly what we find Esther doing. After three days of spiritual and mental preparation, she has turned her fear into a plan. She hasn’t shown up casually in lingerie to entice the king, instead, she has dressed for success in what would be considered the “power suit” of her day. She is no doubt still very much fearful for her life, but she has chosen to press ahead anyway, and her first courageous move was to show up in front of the king’s hall in her stately regalia as queen of the Persian Empire. Make no mistake about it, that outfit was part of her strategy because it communicated to the king that she was important and had something important to say [if she’s going to get her head chopped off, she might as well go out in style!].

My point is simple. You have to get moving on what you believe God will do in your life because divine intervention often awaits human initiative. It’s not like God needs us to get things done, but time and time again in the scriptures, we find Him choosing to use people who are already on the move! So, this presents a challenging question for you. Might there be a promise you’re trusting God for, of which He would say, “What are YOU doing to prepare yourself to receive this?”

Suffice it to say, when Esther presents herself before the king, God’s grace and favor had already preceded her. Here’s how it happened happened. Esther 5:2-8, “When he [king Xerxes] saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you. “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.” “Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so that we may do what Esther asks. So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.” Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

The first question that popped in my mind when I read those verses was, “Why in the world would Esther invite Haman to this party?” Wouldn’t it have made more sense to get some “alone time” with her sweetie-pie? The second question that followed was, “Why host two parties? Why not just get it all out of the way at the first gig?”

After several readings of this story, I am convinced that though Esther had a game plan for how to approach her husband, the plans evolved because she was being led by the Holy Spirit every step of the way.

Concerning her invitation to Haman, it’s very possible that she had every intention of exposing his sinister plot during that first party, but as the evening progressed, she discerned through the Holy Spirit that the king and Haman were a lot more chummy than she realized. The Holy Spirit may have even used that first party to give Esther some insight into how Haman relates with the king so she could determine the best approach in bringing up her concerns before the king. Whatever the actual case may have been, you can’t help but pick up on the fact that Esther is watching and waiting for something.

I propose it was a Holy Spirit moment. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts the moment we trust in Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of our lives. What many of us Christians often fail to realize is that the Holy Spirit doesn't move in as a roommate, HE MOVES IN AS LORD! Listen to what Jesus Himself says about the Holy Spirit living in you, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.” (John 16:13-15).

The point I’m getting at here is that the Holy Spirit wants to make known to you God’s will in any and very circumstance you may find yourself in. He is not a mute counselor; He is a loving relational God. Even in the your best laid plans, there are things He KNOWS that you don’t know that He wants to make known to you [sorta like when the best time is to talk to you irrational-king-husband about his best friend who wants to kill your family]. The Holy Spirit creates open opportunities for us through the course of our day each day, the question is, are we paying attention?

If we’re honest, the reason many of us don’t hear from God and don’t feel “filled” or led by the Holy Spirit is that our lives are too noisy! From the moment we wake up, we turn to our mobile devices to get the latest updates on social media. We turn the news on while getting ready for work [or music]. When we get in our cars, we listen to the radio to hear some more about what’s happening in the world. At work, we’re dealing with data and conversations all day, along with social media updates at the top of every hour. At the end of the day, we listen to more radio, more social media, more T.V shows, more Netflix and more late night news.

Yet we wonder why it is we can’t hear God speaking?!?

Hear me on this, when you begin to quiet things AROUND you, you will begin to hear the Holy Spirit of God WITHIN you! It’s for good reason that Jesus often woke up early in the morning to meet with God the Father in prayer. It was the only time He could get away from the noisy crowds (most of who just wanted a great miracle show or some free fish burgers!). For you, the first step to hearing the sweet voice of the Holy Spirit may very well be to unplug for a few days or even weeks!

Esther is in tune with the Holy Spirit’s leading because she, along with Mordecai and every Jew in the city of Susa have turned off the noise around them to seek God’s divine intervention in prayer and fasting. Thus far, we've looked at the "Human Initiative" aspect of seeking God in prayer and fasting. This then brings us to the “Divine Intervention” part of the narrative where we see God's silent hand orchestrating events and setting the stage for the deliverance of the Jews.

It starts with Haman heading home after the first party Queen Esther hosted. Right outside the king’s gates, however, he runs into the man he hates the most, Mordecai. Here’s what happens, “Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.” (Esther 5:9-10)

What I find most interesting here isn’t Haman’s seething, but Mordecai’s confidence. 

Shouldn’t Mordecai be terrified of Haman?

You know what this tells me about what happens when we pray and fast?

Do you recall Mordecai’s emotional state the last time we met him? He was in fear and trepidation expressed as mourning and sorrow. He was so downtrodden that he was dressed in sackcloth and ashes which kept him from being able to go anywhere inside the palace courts.

But after three days of fasting and prayer, God has clearly intervened and strengthened Him with a new confidence. The first indicator of this is the fact that He can now return to the “king’s gate” (where he'd been previously barred from entering because of his undignified clothing) because he’s in new clothes. Think about that for moment. The edict to annihilate the Jews has not changed. Xerxes hasn’t changed his mind. Death still looms on the horizon for the Jews. Yet, Mordecai has taken off his mourning clothes and is now back to work as if nothing ever happened. Secondly, he shows zero fear when he stands in the presence of the 2nd most powerful man in the Persian kingdom, the same man who by the way wrote the edict to kill all the Jews!

Something happened.

In light of a whole city of Jews fasting and praying, we can rightly assume that the Spirit of God has filled Mordecai to overflowing with a heavenly confidence. Mordecai suddenly believes that “God’s got this!” Furthermore, he is expecting something to change dramatically soon because he suddenly believes the truth of Romans 8:31 that tells us, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He is also holding on to another sure promise of God where God Himself says, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:17)

So what is it that you’re facing that has you cowering in fear? First of all, understand that “…God has not given us a spirit of fear, but [a Spirit of] power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7). Secondly, by calling on His name through prayer and fasting, He not only steps in to avenge His own cause, but also to strengthen you to stay the course!

Haman has nursed an unhealthy preoccupation with Mordecai that has become murderous. He has clearly reached a point of no return as his actions in the rest of Esther 5 suggests.  After restraining himself from “exploding” on Mordecai, he makes his way home and throws another party. Really, dude? He invites his wife and friends and spends the whole evening bragging about his wealth and influence.

But at some point, perhaps to shut him up, or maybe because they share his evil sentiments, his wife and friends suggest to him that he “set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it, [so that afterwards, he could] go on [his] merry way to the [second party the king and queen Esther invited him to].” (Esther 5:14).

Wow.

I am going to resist the urge here to give you a lecture on choosing wise friends [who don’t suggest murder as a means of getting even], but instead focus on what’s really happening behind the scenes. Fair warning, this is a spoiler alert, … Mordecai and his sons are going to end up being the very ones impaled on those seventy-five feet tall poles in his yard!

We’ll get to the details of that story in two weeks, but for now, we can’t help but note the irony that Haman’s downfall [and death] would come from the very counsel of people he gathered around himself to blow up his ego! I believe this is one of the reasons why the scriptures urge us to leave plenty of room for God to fight our battles. When God says, “Vengeance is mine”, it means that He fights [on our behalf] in covert ways we can’t even fathom. He causes the counsel of your enemies to turn to foolishness so that before they can lift a hand against you, they experience "friendly fire." 

In the coming weeks, we will watch as Esther finally makes her request known to her husband and how Haman foolishly places himself in a compromising situation at the exact moment, all of which leads to him being impaled on the very pole he built for Mordecai. In the words of pastor Steven Furtick, “Though your enemies surround you, YOUR GOD SURROUNDS YOUR ENEMIES!”

God moves in extraordinarily profound ways when we take initiative in preparing ourselves through prayer and fasting. He chooses to use our prayer-filled readiness and prayerful preparation to accomplish the “good works He prepared in advance for us to do.” So what do you need to get moving on today? And what do you need to commit fully into His hands?

Whatever it is, I pray that God’s Holy Spirit leads you as you try and discern that healthy balance between divine intervention and human initiative. 

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In response to what he considered to be the cowardice of German intellectuals following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent purging of Jews, Lutheran pastor, Martin Niemöller (who himself was German) wrote these provocative words: "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Socialist.  Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

Those words were profoundly impactful in my college years when I first heard them and they still are today. It was/is the rallying call that got me involved in significant movements. That message is still timely for our day today; if you remain quiet and only ever mind your own business while others fight, you’ll eventual be left with no one to step in to assist you in your time of need when your personal business needs minding. 

As you’ll see in this fourth part of Esther's story, there comes a time when the best thing you can do is to get all up in somebody else’s’ business! This is exactly where we find our main characters, Mordecai and Esther.

To give you some context, remember that the events of Esther 4 are a reaction to the events of Esther 3. A mad hater named Haman has just orchestrated a devious plan to wipe out every Jew in Persia, which, incidentally, is not too far removed from what Nazi and SS leaders at the 1942 Wannsee Conference in Berlin were planning as they discussed the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” 

To feel the weight of what Mordecai and the Jews were experiencing in Esther 4:1-3, imagine waking up one morning and reading on every online newsfeed, newspaper, and watching on every news network this leading story, “President Signs and Passes a New Bill: Calls for the Public Execution of Every Undocumented Immigrant.”

That, of course sounds ludicrous to our modern ears, right? But imagine living in a time period [and a country] where the president had totalitarian powers and didn’t have the checks and balances of Congress and the Senate. Imagine further that this particular bill-turned-into-law was legit and an exact date was set for when the executions were to begin. [This imaginary scenario is not too unsimilar to what happened between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994).

Got the shivers yet? 

King Xerxes’s edict to execute every Jew in Persian provinces has sent shockwaves throughout the entire kingdom. A gloomy heaviness has fallen over every Jew, but unlike our Western restrained expressions of sorrow, these men and women are visibly and vocally letting their distraught be known. Esther 4:2-3 tells us that they were clothed in sackcloth and ashes and there was loud wailing and bitter weeping in every province. In other words, no one could ignore this tragedy that was about to befall the Jews. If you were a Persian trying to mind your own business, you couldn’t, because every other home on your street was filled with loud crying and lamenting. If that weren't attention-grabbing enough, you also had to live with the fact that your Jewish co-workers showed up to work with ashes all over them. [In the ancient Near East, strong feelings of sorrow were often expressed in an outward dramatic manner]. 

In Mordecai’s case, however, he wasn’t content to simply make noise about his sorrow just anywhere - he had to be strategic about it. It’s no use complaining about a problem if you’re not willing to pursue a solution, right? So, note where he places himself in verse 2, “…he went only as far as the king’s gate.” Why? Because his cousin, queen Esther was in the palace and he needed to get her attention. The assumption here is that Esther was unaware of the edict signed by the king. As queen, she may have lived in a very secluded, possibly highly protected part of the palace that kept her from staying up to date on the political affairs of the kingdom. 

Whatever the case may have been, once Esther discovers the emotional and physical condition of Mordecai, perhaps out of fear that Mordecai might draw unwanted attention from the palace, she offers a quick fix to his problem – a makeover. She sends him a new set of clothes because let’s face it, the queen’s cousin cannot afford to be seen dressed in rags [remember, Mordecai was still mourning in sack cloth and ashes]!

I am, of course being facetious with that commentary. I am certain Esther’s intentions were well meaning, but still, her actions here are no different than me venting on my Facebook/Instagram/Twitter page about a pressing social injustice in society. I may get a few of my close friends and family to “Like” my comment, but it doesn’t effect any real change where it will matter most. 

It’s for this reason that Mordecai refuses the clothes she sends. As it turns out, Esther was indeed not aware of the edict because in verse 5 she sends her personal assistant to inquire of Mordecai what was really happening. Mordecai in turn illustrates for us in his response the first lesson in how to go about NOT minding your business.

Watch how Mordecai goes about this in verse 7-8, “Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.” 

If it hasn’t happened already, know that there WILL come a moment in your life when you will need to leave the comfort of ringside seats and jump in the fight, a moment when it will be perfectly okay NOT to mind your own business! Your fight may be an issue that threatens a value you personally hold to [maybe even a Biblical value], or your fight may be on behalf of someone near and dear who feels timid about giving voice to his or her convictions. Whatever it is, you will someday come across a hill of which you will say, “This hill is worth dying for.” 

When that moment arrives, before speaking up (and rallying others to join your cause), be certain that you have gathered all the right information to prove that your cause is right and just.

That may seem like an obvious lesson until you consider how many times we pass information along on social media. How many times have you come across shared information on your social media newsfeed of which you know/suspect the information is incomplete or false? Let me ask that more directly: How many times have YOU Shared, Liked, retweeted, or posted shared information online in the spur of the moment without actually checking to see if what you’re sharing is accurate? Or how many times have you posted negative news about some celebrity or popular figure under the guise of, "please keep them in prayer"?

Let’s be honest with ourselves and call this what it is: RUMORS & SLANDER! Needless to say, the Bible has plenty to say on the issue (Leviticus 19:16; Proverbs 20:19; Proverbs 26:22; Ephesians 4:29; 2 Timothy 2:23). The point? Get your facts before you make someone else’s business your business. Be careful and attentive to what you say, who you say it to, and how you say it. 

Mordecai is right on top of this as he conveys accurately all the details of the king’s edict to queen Esther.  

The scene quickly shifts, however, from Mordecai outside the palace courts, to the royal chambers of queen Esther inside the palace as she processes all Mordecai has just brought to her attention.

This seems like an easy fix to us. Esther should just march into her husband’s chamber and request that the law be reversed. And if that doesn't work, she could always try sweet-talking him and guilting him into doing something about the matter at hand. Right?

Unfortunately, things don’t appear to be happily-ever-after-ish between the two lovers we left off in Esther 2:17. Something is seriously off because Esther sends a completely unexpected message back to Mordecai that is tantamount to her saying, “I think I’m just going to mind my own business on this one, Mordecai.” Hear her reservations in Esther 4:9-11, “Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king..”  

I should explain.

Do you recall the beauty competition in chapter two, the one that Esther won? Well, technically, all the ladies competing won a place in the king’s harem in that competition, Esther just happened to win the highly coveted role of queen. I point that out so that you understand that Xerxes was not a one-woman-man. In the ancient Near Eastern world, it was common for kings to have “concubines”, or second-class wives. The practice was more about demonstrating one’s wealth and power than it was about having sexual variety [in some case though, the king was just a sex freak]. The Israelite king, Solomon is said to have had, “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines.” [Which by no means indicates that God approved of it].

We don’t know how many concubines Xerxes had accumulated, but he had enough to keep him occupied for at least thirty days so that he didn’t need Esther’s companionship for that length of time. Either that or his love for her had begun to wane, making it even harder for her to gain an audience with him. Furthermore, Persian law dictated that no one could not simply stroll into the presence of the king without invitation, otherwise they would be put to death, including the queen! Xerxes has already proven to be an irrational man who was willing to depose his queen [Vashti] on a drunken whim, so Esther knew she would be on very fragile ground if she heeded Mordecai’s request.

It would seem in such a moment that the safe option would be to "sit this one out" and mind her own business. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), Mordecai refuses to let her off the hook so easily. This brings me to the second lesson in how to go about NOT minding your business.

Here’s how Mordecai applies this lesson to Esther. In his response sent back to her through her assistant, he says, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  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 your royal position for such a time as this?” 

I love this! This is the classic halftime speech that turns a team around and results in a winning game. First of all, Mordecai himself is full of faith and seems certain that through one means or another, God would make a way to deliver the Jews from Haman’s threat. He, however, wanted Esther to be a key player in the unfolding narrative worthy of heroes of the faith. He had already taken note of the providential hand of God in Esther’s life and realized that it was God Himself who opened the door for Esther to become queen in order that she may someday be in a position to influence national policy. So then, in urging Esther to go into the king, in spite of the fact that it might come at the cost of her life, he was certain that the same God who had guided her steps thus far, would also protect her as she approached the king. 

Mordecai understood that THIS WAS HER MOMENT! 

Hopefully, you have people in your life you’ve invested in who in turn have given you permission to speak into their lives. If such persons exists and you ever see them living in a manner less than what you believe they can achieve, you, more than anyone else have the authority to say to them the difficult things [they might not want to hear] and call them back to stay on course. It’s one of the few times when it is okay NOT to mind your own business! THEY ARE YOUR BUSINESS as much as Esther was Mordercai’s.

On that same note, another time when it’s okay not to mind your own business is when the person[s] being negatively impacted is too timid to speak for themselves. Time and time again, we find God Himself speaking and fighting on behalf of the little guy, the orphan, the humble, the poor, the broken. By NOT minding your own business in those instances, you may end up being the boost the other person needs to finally start fighting their own battles!

This tough-love approach proved effective in Esther’s case because she sends this message back, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.”  

We can’t help but beam with pride as we read those words. Esther has counted the cost. She is fully aware that she might loose it all (including her life), but she’s also willing to step out in faith knowing full well that God might choose to use her audacity in the same way God used ordinary men/women of old to accomplish extraordinary feats in the life of His people. Even better yet, she has a clear course of action, and that brings me to lesson #3 in NOT minding your own business.

I love the fact that Esther didn’t just hurry off into her own private prayer room in her chamber to seek God’s help. Rather, she rallied everyone who had a vested interest in the well being of the Jews [including her maids and the Jews themselves] to join in a dedicated time of prayer and fasting. If you’re not familiar with the spiritual discipline of fasting, it is the intentional abstention from food and/or drink for a set period of time for the sole purpose of seeking God in prayer. It is essentially a desperate cry to God that you NEED HIM NOW. Do you know what’s even more powerful and impactful than one woman praying and fasting? Having every Jew in your city praying and fasting along with you!

(***Bonus Tip*** NOT minding your own business is always more fun and effective when you're with a group of likeminded people who share the same level of passion of your convictions. There’s power in numbers.  *** End Bonus Tip ***)

Esther not only has every intention of going to speak to the king [under the spiritual covering of a nation [praying and fasting], but the next chapter will reveal that she actually has a strategic plan, a clear course of action to accomplish this. But before proceeding, she yields to the counsel of Proverbs 16:9 that says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” Don't miss this: Always allow God plenty of room to fight your battles! He's a better skilled warrior. 

And that wraps up Esther 4. 

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It was my sophomore year in college and I was struggling through my course load, while at the same time trying desperately hard to make financial ends meet. I was in middle of writing a difficult paper when my older brother called and asked if I was sitting down. His tone alone told me that what he was going to say next was going to hit me like a brick to my chest.

“Hey, Shegz. Dad just suffered a heart attack.”

He went on to explain what happened, but I don’t recall much of the conversation after that statement. It was the most surreal experience I've ever had. Aside of the fact that I couldn’t imagine my dad’s heart working up the nerve and daring to attack him [he was a rough and tough guy], we were several thousand miles apart. My father was in Nigeria at the time, I was in New Jersey, and my brother was calling me from Maryland to relay the message he had just received from my mom back in Nigeria. So, it wasn't like I could just rush home to be by his beside. It was one of the lowest points of my faith because I couldn’t even find the strength to pray to God for comfort.

None of us is ever ready for that moment.

The reality, however, is that it comes - a time in every life when all hell suddenly breaks loose. One morning, all is calm and chill, but by 7:00 pm, you feel like you’ve just been inhaled into life’s back draft!

Life ain't always pretty, is it? But, lest you begin to despair, take heart! There's hope ahead!

In this third installment of our series through the Old Testament book of Esther, one of the main characters, Mordecai is about to feel the full weight of his own “all-hell-breaks-loose" moment. 

In the closing verses of Esther 2, we read that Mordecai’s proximity to the king’s palace exposes him to a conspiracy to take the king’s life. He in turn conveys the plot to his cousin-queen, Esther, and she communicates the information to the king, giving full credit to Mordecai. The matter is investigated and found to be true and the culprits are arrested and executed.

This should make Mordecai a hero, right? The next few verses should tell us that he was rewarded and celebrated by the king for foiling the evil plot. But instead, here’s how chapter 2 wraps up that account, “…All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.” (v.23). In other words, “Thanks, Mordecai. Good job! We’ll make a note of it in the king’s journal.”

Seriously?  

To say here that life isn’t fair would be an understatement, especially in light of what happens next. Esther 3:1 opens by saying, “After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles.”

Are you kidding me?!

First of all, who the heck is Haman and what in the world happened to Mordecai's reward? Shouldn’t it read, “After these things, King Xerxes honored Mordecai… NOT Haman… M.O.R.D.E.C.A.I!

That is sometimes the reality of life though, isn’t it? Sometimes, you will work hard, do the right thing, stand up for the right cause, take the high road, and someone else will get the reward.

In spite of how unfair all that sounds, it’s here, right at the turn of the chapter that things now take a dramatic turn for the worse, not only for Mordecai, but for pretty much every Jew in Persia.

It all starts with the palace official named Haman who was rewarded in place of Mordecai. We don’t know what he’s done, but the king is so highly impressed with his service that he promotes him to the position of Prime Minister. Furthermore, the king commands that homage is to be paid to Haman wherever he goes in the kingdom; in other words, people are to bow in his presence because he now bears the authority of the king.

Simple enough, right?  Well, not quite.

Mordecai apparently has a problem with this new order and refuses to bow or pay homage to Haman. To the casual reader, Mordecai may come across as an instigator, or even worse, he may come across as feeling a little jealous about being overlooked earlier, but there’s a whole lot more going on here.

First off, Mordecai at some point explains that part of why he won’t bow is because, “…he was a Jew.” (v.4). This tells us that Mordecai’s reservations may have been religious in nature. Though the passage doesn’t give us much to go on, one can speculate that Haman may have been claiming some kind of divine status with his new title. The rabbis even invented a story that Haman carried with him an idol, something to which Mordecai felt he couldn’t bow to without compromising some of his values as a Jew -Old Testament 101: “Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices.” Exodus 23:24].

Whatever the real issue may have been, Mordecai’s defiance stirs up something ugly and evil in Haman. Haman is so furious that he loathes the idea of simply punishing Mordecai. Instead, he decides that every Jew in Persia needs to pay the price. Haman wants to commit genocide. Read for yourself how it plays out in Esther 3:6-9. “Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes … (8) Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”

Clearly, this is an extreme reaction to one man wounding his pride. Whenever someone’s reaction is excessively disproportionate to another person’s action, it is indicative of a deeper. Haman is nursing a more sinister grudge with Mordecai than Mordecai even realizes. Luckily, the passage itself gives us a huge hint as to what the real matter is.

If you look back at Esther 3:1, you'll note that Haman is introduced to us as, “Haman the Agagite.” The Agagites descend from a king named Agag who was the ruler of the Amalekites, the ancient enemies of Israel (see where this is going?]. There’s a pretty dramatic battle in Exodus 17:8-13 between the Amalakites and the Israelites soon after they fled the bondage of slavery in Egypt. The Israelites won that skirmish.

Several generations later, they would face off again under the leadership of Saul, a Benjamite of Israelite. In that account, God ordered Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites, including their king, Agag. Saul obeyed partially and tried to play fast and loose with God’s instruction until a prophet named Samuel intervened and put Agag to death himself.

Haman is a descendant of one of the Amalakites who survived that mass slaughter. So when he finds out that Mordecai is not only of Jewish descent, but also from the tribe of Benjamin, just as king Saul was, he wants Jewish blood to fill the streets in Persia.  It’s almost poetic when you think of what happened and is about to happen. Israel had been commanded by God to completely wipe the Amalekites off the face of the map. They didn’t’ fully obey. As a result, an Amalekite [Haman] is now planning to wipe the Israelites off the face of the map!

Here’s a good opportunity as any to share a lesson that seems apparent to me.

Over the course of your life, you will more than likely hold on to one or several grudges against others. I’m speaking here of a persistent feeling of ill will and resentment resulting from a past insult or injury. I’ve unfortunately carried my fair share of grudges to no avail.

Haman is a classic example of what happens when a grudge has become toxic. His deep-seated resentment towards the Jews has fully grown into mass murder. 

You may read that and think, “Dude, calm down. Sure, I can’t stand looking at ___________'s face, but I have no plans of ever doing them any harm! Chill already!” That’s fair, but might I remind you of what the Bible says in James 1:14-15, “…but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

In other words, choosing to hold on to bitterness is tantamount to finding a stray kitten and bringing it into your home. You love its beautiful smile, its soft coat, its cute paws and purrs. You become so accustomed to it that you’re not even aware that it’s growing into what it was always destined to become. Until one day, you walk into your house and a 200-pound tiger pounces on you and begins tearing you apart piece by piece! Think I’m being a little overdramatic? Read on. Later in this story, Haman’s grudge is going to pounce on him like a 200-pound tiger!

Listen to how the scriptures say we are to address a grudge/bitterness we may be holding on to. Romans 12:17-21 says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

A few great reminders here: One, as much as is humanly possible, you should initiate restoration and reconciliation with someone you’re holding a grudge against. Two, allow God room to fight on your behalf in instances where you’ve been wronged. He knows your true motive as well as theirs and is frankly in the best position to determine who gets a smack down and who gets a pardon. Three, responding in kindness to someone who has a grudge against you will frustrate their efforts to do you further harm.

Get on these three right away, otherwise that cute kitten you’re carrying around will turn into a tiger and tear you up!

In Haman’s case, his grudge is still a kitten as he schemes and plots the demise of every Jew in the Persian kingdom. He falsely implies to the king that the Jews are a threat to welfare of his vast empire. The king, thinking Haman is mostly concerned with kingdom affairs [and unaware that his wife is actually one of “those” Jew] signs off on the mass execution.

Haman has clearly gone off the deep end. Do you know what's even more disturbing about his behavior? It’s the fact that he secures official palace permission to carry out his evil deed on the 13th day of the first month, but the actual order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children wasn’t to take place till the 13th day of the twelfth month!

You see, Haman is not content to simply kill the Jews, he’s also waging psychological terrorism on them! He’s essentially set things in motion so that every Jew in Persia  has to live in terror for 11 months as they wait for the executions to be carried out. It’s for this reason that the last verse of Esther 3 says every citizen [including many Persians who no doubt had Jewish friends affected by this edict] was bewildered by the news.

The chapter ends abruptly on that very sour note and that in itself is a lesson we can learn from.

The inevitable question that arises when tragedy strikes or all hell breaks loose is the question, “WHY, GOD?” What many people may find even more excruciating is the [sometimes] deafening silence from heaven that follows.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve sat bedside next to someone struggling through this question. The truth is, there is no easy answer. Our trials may be because we are doing certain things right and God has deemed us worthy to suffer for His sake, or it may be as a result of sin in our lives. Sometimes our hardship is a result of the repercussions of someone else’s sin, or it may simply be God’s way of sharpening us for the next thing He is getting ready to bring us into. Then of course, it may just be that we live in a fallen world and painful things happen in a broken world!

Once again, there are no easy answers. Even if God Himself were to show up and explain what was happening, it would be like trying to fit the entire Atlantic Ocean into a little Dixie cup! Our fragile and finite minds cannot possibly comprehend the inner workings of the mind of an omniscient and omnipotent, albeit loving God.

But here’s a basic truth our minds can comprehend, “… we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Roman 8:28. You may have heard that verse a thousand times. Well, it is no less true the thousand-and-oneth time! No matter what tragedy befalls you, the Bible reassures you that through Christ in you, God will work in it and through it for your good and ultimately for your glory.

From your perspective, life may be falling apart and your version of hell may have broken loose, but there isn't a moment of your life that escapes God's attention or a trial you experience which doesn't first check in with God. More importantly, He Himself reassures His own with this promise, "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;  the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

No matter how chaotic your life may appear now, know that you are NOT alone!  

In Esther’s story, we will see God bring that promise to fruition as he causes what the enemy meant for evil to work for the good of Mordecai, Esther, and every Jew in the Persian empire! Join me in next week’s blog post to find out how God does this.  

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I love my wife.

I also really like her. Naturally, she's one of the few people I confide in.

She, in particular, knows things about me no one else does, things that may make you laugh your head off and things that may make you cry.  There are days when I can’t wait to head home and share with her some profoundly insightful lesson I just learned about God, about myself, or a juicy rumor … uh … story I just heard. I’m deeply grateful to God for blessing me with a wife who gets me, loves me, and is often times my buddy. 

I start part two of this series through the Old Testament book of Esther with that tidbit about relational intimacy because our man, Xerxes is desperately in need of not only a wife, but a leading lady who’s also his buddy.

When chapter two opens up (after he’s signed a decree in a drunken state that kicked his queen, Vashti off her royal throne), we find the king alone and lonely. It’s why Esther 2:1 starts by saying, “…After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus [Xerxes] had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.”  

There’s plenty going on in that one verse. First off, the phrase, “After these things…” is hugely significant. It is significant because four years have passed between the first verse of chapter two and the last verse of chapter one. If you recall in the first blog post [“Straight Outta Persia”], I explained that Xerxes threw an extravagant shindig in the third year of his reign in an effort to garner support for his invasion of Greece. Well, according to Esther 2:16, the events of chapter two take place during the seventh year of his reign. So, if you do the math, four years have passed since the end of chapter one.

What's more important, however, than the duration of time that has passed is the events that have transpired during that period. Basically, the movie, 300 happened. History tells us that Xerxes led his armies into Greece but failed militarily. The collective defense mounted by the Greek states succeeded in not only pushing back the Persian army but also in liberating several Greek city-states on the fringe of Persia itself. So, Xerxes was forced to return to his capital city of Susa in shame and with great losses.

Therefore, when we meet him in Esther 2:1, there’s a heavy gloominess about him. This dude seriously needs a hug. Specifically, he really misses Vashti, because let’s face it, she was an amazing woman! That's what the passage is telling us when it says, “he remembered Vashti…”. His anger at her has subsided, he’s no longer drunk and he’s come to his senses and realizes he had a gem on his hands.

He also couldn't just reinstate her to her position because once a decree is passed in Persia, it can’t be overturned. So, getting his honey back wasn’t an option. Though as king, he could have any woman he wants, he’s not looking for a quick fling to drown his sorrows. Xerxes is looking for a wife, a friend, a buddy, someone he can share his bed with, as well as his wins and especially now, his losses.

It’s in this brokenhearted state that his personal attendants find him and it’s why they suggest that a national search be made for Persia’s next top model who will fill the role Vashti once did. They suggest in verse 2, “Let us search the empire to find beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. After that, the young woman who most pleases the king will be made queen instead of Vashti.”

We’ll come back to that little statement about "beauty treatments" shortly [because it’s important to the narrative], but for now, it’s time to finally meet our leading lady, Esther. Esther 2:5-9 introduces us to her, “Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.”  

Here are four things we immediately know about Esther based on that introduction:

• She is a Jew, one of the several thousands exiled in Persia.

• She was orphaned at a young age.

• She was adopted and raised by her uncle, Mordecai

• And she is drop dead gorgeous. (The scripture actually goes out of its way to describe her as “beautiful of form and face”.

Another important detail worth pointing out is the fact that, as a Jew, Esther worships the one true God, Jehovah. As a result, it’s highly likely that she has no real desire to live out her days in the palace of the Persians (who DON’T worship her God, but are in fact, pagans).

Esther is more than likely not too eager to be selected for this beauty pageant. Though she willingly goes with the plan ["was taken"], we can safely assume that she is doing so reluctantly and more than likely hopes she doesn’t end up winning the stupid thing. The secret she hides in verse 10 makes my speculation even more plausible.

Something else that is not immediately obvious about her is what I like to describe as her winsomeness. In other words, aside of her beauty and attractiveness, there was something else about her presence and character that drew people to her. I say so because at least on three separate occasions, we’re told that people were favorably disposed towards her.

• The first time is in verse 9 when she meets Hegai (the head eunuch). He is so impressed with her at their first meet that he immediately hooks her up with the executive suite and accompanying maid services.

• The second time is in verse 15 where it says “Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.” So, not only was Hegai impressed with her, but even the palace staff thought she was a great person to be/have around.

• The third time is when she meets Xerxes himself, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

Lest you read that and attempt to argue that she was well favored only because she was beautiful, I would remind you that there were several hundred other women in that same palace who were just as pretty as Esther was. Physical beauty was one of the sole criteria for being selected to be in the competition. Yet, none had the grace and charm and winsomeness Esther did.   

So, let’s look at the plan to get them all ready and pretty for Xerxes, “Before each young woman was taken to the king’s bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments—six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments. When it was time for her to go to the king’s palace, she was given her choice of whatever clothing or jewelry she wanted to take from the harem. That evening she was taken to the king’s private rooms, and the next morning she was brought to the second harem, where the king’s wives lived. There she would be under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would never go to the king again unless he had especially enjoyed her and requested her by name.”

For all the Persian single ladies selected, this was an opportunity of a lifetime! This was Persia’s version of “America’s Next Top Model” meets “The Bachelor”. The latter show is about a bunch of women competing to win the affections of one man. The earlier seasons of the former show involves aspiring models moving in together into one luxurious house and competing to win a contract with a supermodel agency. While it features gorgeous runway models, the main star of the show is often times their attitudes towards one another! The conflict that the competitiveness generates among the girls often times leaves very little to be desired.

This was no less true for the girls gathered in the Persian palace. Every girl competing would have wanted to win the highly coveted role of queen. Much more than that, every girl present would have been eagerly looking forward to twelve months of beauty/cosmetic pampering with several maids at their beck and call. Picture it if you can.

• January: Face treatment.

• February: Hair.

• March: Nails.

• April: Clothes shopping.

• May: Perfume and shoes.

And on and on. Imagine the shopping list and stores: Prada, Tiffany’s, Vera Wang, Dolce & Gabbana, Chloe, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Oscar de la Renta. (Yes. I just asked Siri, “what are the most expensive women’s stores in the United States?”)

I paint that picture for you so that you’ll understand that Esther has just been drafted into a highly competitive , possibly toxic environment that can bring out the worst in people (Have you seen the catfights on America’s Next Top Model or the backbiting on The Bachelor?).

It’s for this reason that the ladies are assigned a head eunuch, Hegai (Persia’s version of Tyra Banks) to oversee them. The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Commentary (p.485) points out this interesting detail about the lodging of all these ladies, “We know much about the administration of ancient harems from records found primarily in Assyria. These documents demonstrate that harem [“house of women”] life was well regulated, under the watchful eye of trusted eunuchs. There were frequent conflicts among the women as they would sometimes scheme and plot for favors for themselves... The eunuchs were charged to make sure that such conflicts did not erupt in violence.”

With all the ladies vying for the ultimate prize, it would have been next to impossible to stand out in this group, especially if you were being demure as I’m proposing Esther was. Yet, we read this in verse 9 about the first few days of Esther being a part of Xerxes’ harem, “Hegai was very impressed with Esther and treated her kindly. He quickly ordered a special menu for her and provided her with beauty treatments. He also assigned her seven maids specially chosen from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.”

I believe it was Esther's humble winsomeness that caused her to stand out in this group. Not only was she obedient to the instructions of her older cousin who raised her and gave her some really important advice before going to the palace, (which is very telling of her respect for authority) but verse 10 indicates that she probably maintained a low profile among all the ladies because she didn’t want her nationality known.

Furthermore, when her moment finally came to spend the night with the king, Esther humbled herself and accepted the advice of the one guy who knew the king the most and only took with her what he advised. This was a situation where she could have asserted her individuality. We don’t know what Hegai suggested she take in with her to the king, but whatever it was, Esther could very well have said, “I’m sorry, Hegai. But that’s not really my style.” or “Thanks, but I heard some of the other girls already tried that. I’m going to try something else.” Esther was humble enough to yield to the words of Proverbs 12:15 which says, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”

When you consider the fact that someone with beauty as natural as hers just spent a whole year enhancing her looks so that she’s near perfection, it would have been next to impossible to retain a humble state of mind. Heck, I recently got a haircut on the same day my wife bought me a new Calvin Klein T-shirt and I thought I was the hottest thing since Will Smith! And that was just one shirt. O.N.E! I'm ashamed to even think of what would happen if I had a year’s worth of what Esther was offered.

It begs the question though, what kind of attitude might YOU develop if you were involved in a yearlong project where the sole purpose was to enhance what was already great about you?

The good news here is that her winsomeness pays off because verse 16-20 wraps the story up neatly for us by saying, “Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in early winter of the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti. To celebrate the occasion, he gave a great banquet in Esther’s honor for all his nobles and officials, declaring a public holiday for the provinces and giving generous gifts to everyone. Even after all the young women had been transferred to the second harem and Mordecai had become a palace official, Esther continued to keep her family background and nationality a secret. She was still following Mordecai’s directions, just as she did when she lived in his home.”

Alas, we have a new queen and Xerxes has a new lover and friend!

If these events occurred today, it would be said that Esther is the breakout starlet who just made her way from working as a cashier at Walmart to becoming the first lady of the White House. She's our modern day Meghan Markle! God DOES work in mysterious ways, doesn’t He?

Even more importantly, we will discover shortly in this story that God’s timing for blessing in our lives is not only impeccable, but incredibly purposeful.  

There are several life lessons to be learned from this second chapter of Esther. Hopefully some of it jumped out at you as you read along, but if it didn’t, here are three that were most meaningful to me.

Esther won favor with everyone she met in the palace because she was already winsome as a young girl in Mordecai’s home. There is every indication from the rest of the story that the qualities we admire about her as a queen were qualities Mordecai had helped raised in her years earlier.

The point being, whatever character qualities you develop now will become even more pronounced when you step into leadership, marriage, or whatever the “next” thing is you’re trusting God to take you into.

So, what qualities are you working hard to develop today? Do you want to see it magnified later in life?  

This lesson is very subtle in Esther’s life, but nonetheless present.

This is what is known as the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping. It is an axiom of life that we reap proportionately whatever we put in. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously”

How respectful are you of the authority figures in your life? (Your parents, bosses, teachers, pastors, cops, political leaders, etc.) According to the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping, the way you treat them and address them (the level of respect you show them) will be proportionate to what you will someday experience when God places you in a position of influence over others. Trust me, I speak from experience and have learned this firsthand (the hard way!).

You may think to yourself that challenging the authority figures in your life and swimming against the tide of their instruction makes you out to be some kind of progressive rebel or trend-setting revolutionary, but mark my words, it will come back and bite you in your insurgent tooshie if you don't humble yourself now!

While Esther’s physical form has played a significant role in this narrative, I also hope I’ve conveyed the fact that her beauty was ONLY a starting point. It was her humble winsomeness that ultimately placed her on the throne (and God’s sovereign hand, of course).

The scriptures speaks of prioritizing godly character development over cultivating physical looks (or talents) when it says, “…physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8

One of my seminary professors used to tell us, “Pray that your talent (or looks) doesn’t take you to a place in life where your character can’t sustain you.” Having witnessed many brothers and a few sisters fail in ministry due to character issues, I have since been praying, “Lord Jesus, grow in me, now, the character and integrity that will sustain me when you bring me into the good works you have prepared in advance for me to do.”

A good prayer to pray daily is what David prayed when he said, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Whether we find ourselves serving in the aisles of Walmart or in the Oval office at the White house, may our focus always remain on being like Christ. In so doing, may God continually grant us a willing spirit to sustain godly character in us! I hope you join me in the coming weeks as we uncover God's destiny for this incredible young woman.  

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This book opens with the mother of all parties.

If you lived in 483 B.C, this is the party you’d want to be invited to. 

Meet the guy hosting it; His name is Xerxes and he has a penchant for the extravagant. He also happens to be king of the vast and wealthy Persian Empire. Incase you’re wondering, yes, this Xerxes is the Hispanic-Michael-Jordan-looking-dude portrayed as king Xerxes in the movie, 300.

Incidentally, the events of Esther chapter one can be dated to the third year of Xerxes’ reign, which would have been shortly before he led his army on a military campaign to conquer Greece (albeit, a failed attempt).

That information will come in handy later, for now, let’s head back inside his expensive shindig.

Not only is the party itself lit, but his guest list is impressive and includes the who’s-who of Persia (celebrities, military and political figures). What raises an eyebrow, however, is its duration. Ready for it? According to verse 4, “The celebration lasted 180 days—a tremendous display of the opulent wealth of his empire and the pomp and splendor of his majesty.”

Did you catch that?

This party lasted 6 months! I’ve been to parties that lasted a whole day, and in college during orientation week, we pretty much partied the whole week, but 6 months? Wow!

Believe it or not, the party doesn’t end there. After partying it up in the palace with the princes, nobles, and celebrities of Persia, Xerxes throws open his gates for the local townsfolk in the capital city of Susa for another party that lasts a week! This second group are the average folks who have not only shown up to get in on the excitement, but have also shown up with their smart phones to take pictures of opulence and lavishness like they’ve never seen. They’re also the ones who let us regular folks learn on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram how the rich and famous live. And for that, we say thank you!

This after-party was no less extravagant, though. Forget putting up tents and plastic folding chairs, verse 5-8 says this second gig had "marble pillars", "purple curtains" (most expensive cloth), "couches made of pure gold and silver" (yes, you read that right), and "mother of pearl" (I don’t even know what mother of pearl is. I’ve only heard of regular pearl, so I’m guessing its mother is even more fabulous!).

It's helpful to keep in mind here that this party may have been Xerxes' way of building support for his invasion of Greece (remember that plan?). What better way to impress your generals and key influential leaders (and garner support) than by displaying your wealth and showing them a great time?  

Speaking of having a "great time", did you catch the detail about the amount of alcohol that was served? Ready for it? 

Verse 7 says, “Drinks were served in gold goblets of many designs, and there was an abundance of royal wine, reflecting the king’s generosity. By edict of the king, no limits were placed on the drinking, for the king had instructed all his palace officials to serve each man as much as he wanted. At the same time, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.”

I think we can accurately surmise that wherever there's this much alcohol flowing with a bunch of dudes trying to out-impress each other, there’s bound to be disaster (picture a bunch of frat guys partying it up). Needless to say, by day seven, things head downhill pretty quickly.

Xerxes wants to flaunt his male prowess, so he comes up with what he thinks is a great idea that will impress his drunk buddies, verse 10, “On the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine, he told the seven eunuchs who attended him …11 to bring Queen Vashti to him with the royal crown on her head. He wanted the nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very beautiful woman.”

Xerxes is clearly drunk and isn’t thinking clearly. In light of what I proposed was his true motive in hosting this party, however, this may have been a calculated move on his part to demonstrate to his subjects that he was truly the big dawg! Remember, this six-month-and-one-week shindig is a calculated move to boost national morale and garner support for his coming invasion of Greece. So, the queen’s submission to his request would further indicate to his guests that he could truly deliver on whatever he was promising.

Now is a good to introduce you to Queen Vashti. 

The little we know about her tells us she is a strong-minded, independent thinking, self-assured, stunningly beautifully woman (and royalty) who fully knows her worth. Yes. I got all that from verse 11-12! It is an important detail to point out early in this story because her deep convictions will ultimately set the stage for the entrance of the main character in this series, Esther.

But for now, let’s stay with Vashti. Possibly not wanting to engage in the overindulgent revelry of all the men, she’s chosen to host her own special feast for the women of nobility. This group possibly included the wives, sisters, and mothers of all the men of influence and power in Susa (who were probably all in attendance at Xerxes' party).

Imagine the dignity and elegance of Vashi's party compared to the excess of the men’s festivities. Then picture the party being interrupted by Xerxes’ men (seven eunuchs) with what was no doubt a completely outrageous request.

Scholars more versed than I in Biblical history have wrestled with the true meaning of the king’s command in verse 11. Some have suggested that in asking Vashti to come with “her royal crown” to be paraded in front of his guests, Xerxes was really asking her to come do a strip tease for him/them. Others play it a little safer by suggesting that her mere appearance there would have involved lewd behavior considering how drunk all the men gathered would have been. Whatever Xerxes’ true motives were, one thing is certain, Vashti was being commanded to act in a manner she was convinced was beneath her position as queen! Her “royal crown” was a symbol of her high status and the king’s summons would have denied her that status.

In a culture where subjects, even the queen, are expected to obey the king absolutely, Vashti proves to be cut from a completely different cloth than the prevailing culture. Her integrity is at stake here. How she responds will determine how the king will treat her in years to come. Further more, based on the conversation among the men in verse 17, if she yields to this unreasonable request, she could very well also be setting a standard for how ALL the wives in Persia will be treated (many of whom were present with her at her own palace party).  There is only one reasonable response, because as far as Vashti is concerned, her beauty and her body was her own, only to be shared with her husband (and not his drunk buddies!).

So we savor every word in verse 12 when queen Vashti straight up says, “NO!” to the king’s ridiculous request. This is her “STRAIGHT OUTTA PERSIA” moment!

But make no mistake about what just happened here. While we admire her for standing her ground, sticking to her convictions will come at a great cost.

Xerxes, clearly still in a drunken state, is furious. He has just been embarrassed in the presence of all his royal guests and must take decisive action to prove he is still in control. So, he consults his inner circle of advisers and one very insecure not-so-gentleman makes his debut into the narrative.

His name is Memucan and he undoubtedly has some unresolved marital issues in his own house. He suggests to the king that Vashti needs to be dethroned and replaced, and that it be done publicly (pronounced as a royal ruling). It’s a harsh response at first glance, but Memucan actually reveals what his true motive is. Listen to him explain himself in verse 16 and see if you can pick up on his self-serving agenda. “It’s not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it’s all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes’ provinces. The word’s going to get out: ‘Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn’t do it!’ When the women hear it, they’ll start treating their husbands with contempt. The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen’s insolence, they’ll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don’t know their place? ... (20) … When the king’s ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband.”

You can pick your jaw off the ground now.

You know what’s even more disturbing and disheartening about this counsel? The fact that the king and his princes actually thought that it was a great idea, and passed a new policy to put it into action!

Vashti has very possibly lost every luxury she’s been accustomed to over the years, but she’s still walking away a winner because she has not violated her conscience. She has courageously stood up to the most powerful man in the world and we applaud her for it.

Vashti, out! Esther, in! 

It’s important at this juncture to remind you that this study is about Esther (not Vashti).

I point that out because unbeknownst to Esther (wherever she is at the time of all these happenings), God has just orchestrated events in the royal palace that will forever change her life. In the following chapters, (spoiler alert) Esther is going to ascend the very throne Vashti has just been forced to vacate, yet she (Esther) has no idea what’s about to hit her soon-to-be-royal tooshie!

We'll come back to Esther in part two. In the mean time though, this all makes me wonder where in our life is God orchestrating events behind the scenes that will turn out for our awesome-good and His greater glory?

There are several life lessons to be learned from this first chapter of our 9-part series. Hopefully some of it jumped out at you as you read along, but if it didn’t, here are two that were most meaningful to me.

Like Vashti, standing by your convictions may very well come at a cost. You might lose a job. You might lose a friend. You might lose money. The guy or girl of your dreams may even walk away from you because of your convictions. But remember, it is better to please and honor God than to win the approval of man. Proverbs 16:8 says, “Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest.”

The mindset you will need to adopt to get you through some of the losses you may suffer will require a “pay-the-price-now, receive-my-reward-later” kind of thinking. Colossians 3:23-24 and Galatians 6:9 remind us “[not to] get tired of doing what is good. [For] at just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.”

“Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.” (Proverbs 15:16)

Though this chapter mostly focused on Vashti, this book is ultimately about another leading lady named, Esther. In the coming weeks, you’ll discover that God was not only paving the path for Esther to ascend the Persian throne, but he was also readying her to serve in a role as rescuer of the Jews nationwide (all without her knowing!).  

God tends to do that in our lives. We may wake up one morning and by the end of the day, we find that:

• We’ve been offered the job we’ve always dreamed of

• We’ve met the man/woman of our dreams

• We’ve experienced a financial breakthrough

• We’ve been healed from a sickness we’ve long struggled with.

It’s called, the "suddenness" of God’s blessing. From our vantage point, it may appear sudden (sort of like the day Esther was suddenly drafted into the beauty pageant that resulted in her being queen of Persia), but in God’s master plan, He has been long at work behind the scenes in our lives. It was true of Esther, and it most certainly will be true for you as a follower of Jesus Christ. The book of Esther never really mentions God’s name, yet we see God’s hands orchestrating events behind the scenes for a grander purpose!

Join me in the coming weeks and we uncover that grand plan!  

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