Some of my favorite reads online are the stories of dumb criminals.
Last week a masked man actually stood in line to rob a bank!
Police in Stow, Ohio, near Akron, say 24-year-old Feliks Goldshtein of Highland Heights was arrested minutes after his mask-wearing episode on Thursday, following a brief car chase.
Police say the teller asked the man to take off the mask before being served. At that point the man displayed what turned out to be a toy gun and told the teller to give him all the money.
Police Captain Rick Myers says it’s unusual for a masked robber to wait in line at a bank.
Goldshtein was being held at the Summit County Jail Friday on charges of aggravated robbery and failure to comply with a police order. He had an afternoon court appearance scheduled.
We’re not dumb criminals, but we’ve all done dumb things. We’ve all made foolish choices. Like King Xerxes in Esther chapter 1, which we considered last week in the 1st part of this series, we’ve all been angry, frustrated, depressed, and even misled by bitter advice, which led us to make some pretty dumb decisions.
The question we’ll answer today from Scripture is “How do you make good decisions?”
The book of Esther is a great read about two kinds of choices and two kinds of people: people who make wise choices and people who make the other kind. One of our goals in life should be to become people who make good choices because a lot rides on the choices we make. The course our life takes, to a large degree, depends on the choices we make.
But before we get to the biblical precepts on this subject let’s begin with the decision-making track record of King Xerxes and what we can learn from it. In chapter one of the book of Esther, Xerxes blew it when it came to making a good decision. Let’s pick up the story line on him in chapter two of Esther.
Later, when King Xerxes was not so angry, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and his order about her. 2 Then the king’s personal servants suggested, "Let a search be made for beautiful young girls for the king. 3 Let the king choose supervisors in every state of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young girl to the palace at Susa. They should be taken to the women’s quarters and put under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women. And let beauty treatments be given to them.4 Then let the girl who most pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti." The king liked this idea, so he did as they said. Esther 2:1-4 (NCV)
Four years have passed since the events of chapter one. (Esther 2:16) During this time Xerxes had been away on a military campaign against the Greeks, lost, and had come home in humiliation. But he didn’t have a queen to come home to - because he had banished Vashti from his presence. He regretted his rash actions but one of the quirky fine points of Persian law was, once an order was enacted it could not be rescinded. (Esther 1:19)
It’s so good to know that God doesn’t operate this way! He doesn’t always change the consequences of our actions but He does give us second chances to make good choices! He works with us as we make new and better choices.
Since the king can’t undo his dumb decision to get rid of Queen Vashti, his counselors suggest gathering the most beautiful women in the empire to find a suitable replacement for her. They’re probably quick to suggest this because, if King Xerxes did try to buck the Persian tradition of not allowing laws to be changed and Vashti was restored to the thrown, they’re gooses were probably cooked. They were the nincompoops who recommended she be deposed. Which brings us to the first precept on decision making.
1. Be cautious of advice from biased parties.
If you’re going to make a major purchase don’t take everything the salesman says at face value. Read up on the item you’re thinking about purchasing. Read what consumer advocates are saying because they are less biased.
Since we already talked about the foolishness of taking advice from bitter people in the first installment of this series we won’t expand on this here. Just remember that it is always wise to consider the source of your advice. Getting advice is good. Getting it from the wrong source leads to failure.
2. Don’t base decisions on outward appearances alone.
The recommendation of the king’s advisers was to basically pick the prettiest girl to be his next wife, not that we should mistake this search for a new wife for the king as a beauty contest. These young women were not willing participants and God didn’t condone this methodology. The Hebrew language suggests they were taken involuntarily. Against their will they became a part of the royal harem.
The only criterion for choosing them given by the king’s counselors was that they were young and beautiful. (Verse 3) This is the mantra of Hollywood and Madison Avenue today. Every actress, every model, needs to be a “10” in order to qualify for inclusion into the select group of idolized females in our culture. What a crock of baloney! And the sad thing is so many Americans have bought in to this fallacious thinking.
God’s Word says,
3 It is not fancy hair, gold jewelry, or fine clothes that should make you beautiful. 4 No, your beauty should come from within you—the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit that will never be destroyed and is very precious to God. 1 Peter 3:3-4 (NCV)
Yes, Esther was beautiful on the outside, just like the rest of the young women chosen for the conscripted competition to be the next queen. But God did not work behind the scenes in Esther’s life to make her queen because she was outwardly beautiful – but because of her good character.
God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7b (NCV)
What has happened in our culture today, not just with choosing a spouse, but also making so many other vital decisions is that we have been duped into believing that external appearances are the most important. They’re not. God wants us to look beneath the surface! What lies below the skin? When we decide where to live, where to work, where to worship, making major purchases and yes, relationships, these decisions need to be on the basis of character, integrity and principle, not window dressing.
The young women in this Persian marriage raffle were given cosmetics and special diets so as to appear before the king with the very best complexion – even if it had to be manufactured!
One lady said, “I smiled the other day when I came across the results of a survey which found that 15% of the women questioned tinted their hair, 22% wore false eyelashes, 38% periodically wore wigs or hairpieces, 80% wore rouge or some kind of facial cosmetics, 93% used nail polish, 98% wore some kind of eye makeup, and 100% voted in favor of a resolution condemning any kind of false packaging.” (Carolina Cooperator, in Quote Unquote, comp. Lloyd Cory, Wheaton, Ill., Scripture Press, 1977, p. 364)
If you want to make good choices – don’t base your decisions on outward appearance alone!
King Xerxes, along with his bitter and biased advisors, could teach a clinic on how not to make good decisions.
On the other hand, there is a character in the book of Esther who shines proper light on the topic - Mordecai.
5 Now there was a Jewish man in the palace of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair. Jair was the son of Shimei, the son of Kish. Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin, 6 which had been taken captive from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They were part of the group taken into captivity with Jehoiachin king of Judah.7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, who had no father or mother, so Mordecai took care of her. Hadassah was also called Esther, and she had a very pretty figure and face. Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. Esther 2:5-7 (NCV)
Learn from Mordecai how to make good decisions.
3. Consider the needs of others.
Mordecai adopted Esther as his own daughter when her parents died. This was a clearly selfless act. It was an act of love. Another mouth to feed and another soul to watch over wouldn’t have been easy in normal times, let alone while living in exile in a foreign country.
How often do we make decisions based solely on what the outcome will mean to us? Too often I’m afraid.
We’ve arrived at mature decision making when we take into consideration the affects of our choices on others.
In the summer of 1986, two ships collided in the Black Sea off the coast of Russia. Hundreds of passengers died as they were hurled into the icy waters below. News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident. It wasn’t a technology problem like radar malfunction – or even thick fog. The cause was human stubbornness. Each captain was aware of the other ship’s presence nearby. Both could have steered clear, but according to news reports, neither captain wanted to give way to the other. Each was too proud to yield first. By the time they came to their senses, it was too late. (Closer Walk, December, 1991)
But Mordecai’s example of making good choices doesn’t end here.
10 Esther did not tell anyone about her family or who her people were, because Mordecai had told her not to. 11 Every day Mordecai walked back and forth near the courtyard where the king’s women lived to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her. Esther 2:10-11 (NCV)
If I want to make good choices I must learn to…
4. Do the right thing at the right time.
Timing is very important in good decision making.
I’ve jumped ahead a few paragraphs in the story. By this time Esther has been forced into the king’s harem for consideration as queen. Before ending up there, Mordecai had given her one valuable piece of advice to not tell anyone that she was Jewish.
Current events tell us how much hatred exists toward the Jews even today. One Palestinian woman in a Florida demonstration last week screamed for Jews to “go back to the oven, calling for the Jewish counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.
There were citizens in ancient Persia who had similar feelings toward Jews so Mordecai wisely advised Esther to keep her ancestry private.
Later, a time would arise to divulge this information. But this wasn’t the right time.
A lot of bad decisions are made in life when we try to do the right thing at the wrong time!
Moses is a classic biblical character with this problem. As an Egyptian prince he wanted to intervene for the Jews but in rushing the plan of God he murdered an Egyptian that was abusing a Jew. Later his timing was off when he got frustrated with the rock that was supposed to miraculously provide water in the desert. He hit the rock instead of talking to as God had instructed. Bad decisions based on bad timing.
Bad timing is usually a matter of impatience and getting ahead of God’s timing. We make wrong choices financially a lot because we don’t want to wait to have what we want. We want to buy it now on credit when it would be wise to wait and pay cash.
But our timing can be off in so many areas by rushing God.
But we can also lag behind God and drag our feet when God wants us to move.
Learning good timing for decision making takes walking with God and trusting in His leadership.
Now one biblical precept of good decision making from Esther herself.
5. Practice teachability.
Esther had been taken to the palace and given the yearlong beauty treatments and she had become a favorite of the chamberlain in charge of the young ladies being considered for queen of Persia. In fact the Bible says about Esther,
The time came for Esther daughter of Abihail, Mordecai’s uncle, who had been adopted by Mordecai, to go to the king. She asked for only what Hegai suggested she should take. (Hegai was the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women.) Everyone who saw Esther liked her. Esther 2:15 (NCV)
Turns out the king liked her more than any of the other women in consideration for the crown.
And the king was pleased with Esther more than with any of the other virgins. He liked her more than any of the others, so he put a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. Esther 1:17 (NCV)
What was it about Esther that made her the king choose her? And it wasn’t just her beauty.
For one thing we know God was involved.
The Lord can control a king’s mind as he controls a river; he can direct it as he pleases. Proverbs 21:1 (NCV)
But don’t think that God didn’t use Esther’s natural qualities in the process. The title of this series is Divine Destiny. But don’t think that even though God is sovereign that He hasn’t also given us freedom to choose. God chooses people to carry out His plans because He sees they have the right attitudes as well as aptitudes.
The quality that stands out most about Esther is her teachability.
She was open to the suggestion of the king’s chamberlain. We don’t know what he told her to take to her casting call: “Take this perfume, it’s the king’s favorite”; or, “Take your harp, he likes to be sung to.” All we know is it must have been good advice. And just as Esther had followed Mordecai’s advice earlier not to reveal her Jewish blood, she now follows the chamberlain’s advice.
We began our list of precepts on good decision making talking about being cautious of bad advice (be cautious of the advice of bitter people, people who have an axe to grind, people with an agenda). But don’t make the mistake of going to the other extreme and not be willing to take any advice at all. Choose the right people from whom to take advice but practice teachability.
Choose people who love you and have proven their willingness to make sacrifices for you like Mordecai did Esther.
Choose people who have experience in an area like Esther chose the king’s chamberlain.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking you don’t have anything to learn from others. (Jms. 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5)
What training Esther must have had to have this spirit – this teachable spirit! And surely this was one of the things that made her so likeable.
Are we training our children and grandchildren to have this teachable spirit? Are we a role model before them of someone with a teachable spirit?
We’ll make better choices in life when we learn to listen for advice instead of going off as know-it-alls who can’t be told anything new.
1. Be careful of taking advice from biased parties.
2. Don’t base your decisions solely on outward appearances.
3. Be considerate of the needs of others.
4. Do the right thing at the right time.
5. Practice teachability.
We’ve all made bad choices, bad decisions. But failure doesn’t have to be fatal. With the wisdom of God’s Word we can turn things around. We can enjoy the spiritual success of good decision making.
“Carl Michalson, a brilliant young theologian who died in a plane crash some years ago, once told about playing with his young son one afternoon. They were tussling playfully on their front lawn when Michalson accidentally hit the young boy in the face with his elbow. It was a sharp blow full to his son’s face.
“The little boy was stunned by the impact of the elbow. It hurt, and he was just about to burst into tears. But then he looked into his father’s eyes. Instead of anger and hostility, he saw there his father’s sympathy and concern; he saw there his father’s love and compassion. Instead of exploding into tears, the little boy suddenly burst into laughter. What he saw in his father’s eyes made all the difference!
The sharp blow of God’s message to us is: Repentance. Change our minds about the choices we make. Start being more wise in how we make our decisions.
God is not interested in hurting you. He’s interested in helping you.
