As you’re turning to Esther 4 this morning, I want to give you a little background to the story we’ll be reading.
Nearly 500 years before Christ, and about 50 years after Ezra had led the Jews back to Jerusalem from their captivity in Babylon (they’d been sent into captivity due their sinful and unrepentant hearts) many of the Jewish people still live the land of Persia under the reign of a King named Xerxes (NIV) or Ahasuerus (KJV).
Now, Xerxes was a pagan who was known to be a cruel and capricious man, driven by sensual desires. We’re introduced to him at the beginning of the book of Esther where he has staged a grand festival designed to exhibit the power and wealth of Kingdom that lasted for over 6 months. And at the end of that festival he held a 7 day feast filled with food and drink. Too much drink obviously, because on the 7th day of that feast the King and become quite drunk, and in his drunkenness he called for his beautiful queen, Queen Vashti, to come and parade before guests.
She is offended by his request and promptly refuses. This in turn enrages the King… and he deposes her.
After he has had time to reconsider his anger he seeks to find a replacement for Vashti. His counselors advised him to hold a beauty contest and from amongst the most beautiful women of the land, to choose a new queen. And that’s how Esther became the Queen of Persia.
Shortly thereafter, we’re introduced to the villain of the story. He’s an ambitious and arrogant noble by the name of Haman. Haman was a favorite of the King and he has apparently done something that has allowed him to be placed in a position of high honor. The King passes a decree that commands all his officials must bow down and honor Haman whenever he passed.
But there was one man in the city who refused to do this. Esther’s uncle Mordecai Mordecai was a righteous man, and he wasn’t going to bow to anyone other than God.
Esther 3:5-6 says that “When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 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.”
Haman schemed about how to carry out this plan, and finally he spoke to the King and told him "There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business." Esther 3:8-9
Because the King trusted Haman’s judgment, the King decreed that all the Jews should indeed be eliminated.
With that much of the story now in our minds, let’s turn to Esther 4:1-17.
(READ SCRIPTURE AND PRAY)
OPEN: During the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln found refuge at the midweek meetings of a Presbyterian church there in Washington, D.C.. He would go with an aide, sit quietly with his stovepipe hat in his lap. He would listen intently as the minister would open the Scriptures and teach God’s Word and lead the congregation in worship.
The war was tearing the nation apart and it tore at his soul as well. He’d just lost his own son, and now Lincoln was on grieving, and needing solace and sustenance for his soul.
The preacher finished his message and the people began to leave.
The president quietly stood up, straightened his coat, took his hat in hand and began to leave.
His aide stopped him and said, "What did you think of the sermon, Mr. President?"
Lincoln answered, "I thought the sermon was carefully thought through, eloquently delivered."
The aide said, "You thought it was a great sermon?"
Lincoln replied, "No I thought he failed… he did not ask of us something great."(Bruce Larson, What God Wants Us To Know)
APPLY: The preacher hadn’t asked his congregation to do something great.
He hadn’t challenged the people, or the President of the United States, to do more with their lives. And that disturbed the President, because Lincoln saw his nation in turmoil and saw himself struggling with a deep pain and loss.
Abraham Lincoln understood one central truth out of the Bible… and that was:
· when life is difficult
· and the world is filled with struggles and hardship and pain
…that’s when God calls upon His people… to DO something
It’s a repeated theme throughout Scripture that when God comes into contact with people they are MOVED to do things.
Sometimes they’re moved to do great things
· Like Noah building an ark
· Moses leading the people out of the slavery of Egypt
· Joshua taking down Jericho
· Or David taking out a giant
Other times, when people come in contact with God they do little things that make a big difference because of God’s power.
· A little boy shares his meager lunch with Jesus, and as a result over 5000 people are fed.
· Then there’s the woman who met Jesus at the well and then went back to her village and told them who she’d met… and the whole community came out to see Him and their lives are changed.
Again and again, throughout Scripture, we see people rise up to do great things, or small things. And they all make a difference… because God made a difference in their lives.
Thus, when the occasion arises - and we don’t – something is wrong.
I. That bring us to our story this morning
Mordecai is frantic.
He has obeyed God. He has refused to bow in worship of another man. He has done the right thing. And his obedience has brought about the threat of annihilation to his people.
They will soon be destroyed… and it is his fault.
So, He tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth, throws ashes on his head, and makes his way to the walls of the palace where he cries out in bitter tears.
But he’s not allowed into the palace, because no-one in sackcloth is allowed inside.
Now, Esther hasn’t heard about the edict of the King yet and she has no idea what danger her people are in. But there’s no ignoring the loud cries of her uncle outside her home. So she sends one of her attendants out to find out what is wrong.
Mordecai sends the attendant back - with the news of Haman’s plans along with a copy of the King’s edict.
Mordecai’s is very clear on what he wants:
He expects Esther to DO something about this impending disaster.
He expects her to go and talk to the King.
Because he realizes that she’s the ONLY one who can anything about the problem.
But Esther doesn’t want to.
She doesn’t want to get involved.
She explains that this is NOT a good time to be approaching the King. In fact, there’s NEVER a good time to approach the King because he’s a dangerous man… and she might be putting her own life in danger if she tried.
(pause…)
II. Now, why doesn’t Esther want to intercede for her people?
Why doesn’t she want to approach the King?
What emotion is behind her refusal. (She’s afraid)
One of the major reasons why YOU and I might not DO something, why we would not want to obey God is because we’re afraid.
Fear comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
A psychologist at Yale once compiled a list of some of peoples’ most prominent fears
Fear of failure...
Fear of commitment...
Fear of trusting others...
Fear of thinking or speaking publicly...
Fear of being alone.
And he could have gone on and on with that list.
Fear is a very real emotion in people’s lives.
It controls us, it limits us, it enslaves us.
And God doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want fear to rule our lives
And so, repeatedly throughout Scripture, He tells us “Fear Not”
ILLUS: Someone once noted that this command occurred repeatedly throughout Scripture, and so they did a search of all the places where “Do not be afraid”, “Fear Not” or a similar command appeared in the Bible. What they found surprised them. They found that the command is found 365 times in the Bible. One for every day of the year.
I don’t believe anything happens in Scripture by chance. I believe the reason this command occurs 365 times in the Bible is because God doesn’t want a single day of our lives to be dominated by fear.
So… how can I overcome fear?
Well, you and can overcome your fears the same way Esther overcame hers.
Now, granted, she needed a preacher like Mordecai to point it out to her…but that’s why I’m here. I’m the preacher… and I’m going to point it out to you.
The 1st way you can overcome your fear is to realize: If it is to be… it may very well be up to thee.
The first lie of fear is the lie that if you ignore a problem it will go away. It won’t matter if you or I do anything or not. All we have to do is just stand back here and wait til someone else does something about it.
That’s a lie
If God brings a problem to YOUR attention… He probably wants YOU to do something about it. And that’s what Mordecai was trying to tell his niece
“…who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
He’s telling Esther:
It’s come to your attention…
You have the tools to deal with the problem…
Now get busy and do something about it.
Now notice… Mordecai takes his own advice.
Mordecai is afraid too, but he overcame his fear by doing what he could about the problem.
He doesn’t have the ear of the King… but he knows the Queen and so, he tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth and ashes, goes her house AND weeps and wails as loud as he can manage.
He may not be able to get the King’s attention… but surely intends to get hers.
Mordecai overcame his fear by doing what he could. And that is what he was telling Esther as well. So, the first key to overcoming fear is to realize: If it is to be, it may depend on thee
The 2nd Key to overcoming fear is knowing that: If you don’t go… trouble will grow
If you see a problem and you could have done something about it but you didn’t (you left it to someone else to do) the problem won’t go away. It might be fixed for a little while, but it will come back.
That’s what Mordecai is telling Esther when 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…” Esther 4:13-14b
If God believes something is important enough to bring to YOUR attention (and you don’t do something about it) He’s not going to be happy with you.. And you don’t want God unhappy with you.
Isaiah put it this way:
“Do not… fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread” Isaiah 8:12-13
And that’s pretty much what Mordecai is telling Esther: Don’t make God mad... you won’t like Him when He’s mad.
Oddly enough… it’s fear of God that helps us deal with all our other fears.
Psalms 34 puts it this way:
“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them… Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.” Psalms 34:7&9
Now, somehow that seems counterintuitive. How could adding one more fear to my life help me control other fears I might have.
ILLUS: As I thought about that, I remembered an incident from my childhood. When I was a boy, my family had a dog named Trixie. She was a white fox terrier with a brown saddle… the friendliest and gentlest dog you could have had.
Now, dad was a no-nonsense farmer who believed that a dog’s place was outside the home. The only concession he made was that Trixie could be out of the weather if she stayed down in the basement. If Trixie ever dared to venture past the basement door into the kitchen, she was promptly punished.
One night there was a terrible storm. Lightening and thunder filled sky and Trixie was terrified. She ran up out of the basement seeking protection. But Trixie didn’t come to my bed. She didn’t go to my brother or my sisters. He didn’t even seek out the comfort of my mother’s arms. Right in the middle of the night, Trixie bounded up the stairs, into my parent’s bedroom and up beside dad. In her mind, there was only one place that was safe from the dangers of the night… in the arms of the one she feared. She figured if he was powerful enough to rule the home, he was powerful enough to protect her in her danger.
God’s recipe for conquering our fears is to realize He is the only one we need to fear. If we fear Him - if we place His desires above everything else - He has the power and the desire to protect us from anything we might fear.
The last key to overcoming our fears is realize that: To really obey… sometimes you need to fast and pray.
When you’re facing a problem you’re not sure how to handle you need to kick your life into spiritual high gear. Sometimes that means getting serious about your prayers. And you can’t get much more serious about your prayers than when you fast.
TURN WITH ME TO Isaiah 58:6-10
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:6-10
In other words, in your SERIOUS prayers we should use fasting to set aside food and other blessings for those in need… and then step back and see what God can do.
Esther faced a problem she didn’t know how to handle and so she decided to get serious about her prayers. She told Mordecai:
"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 maids 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." Esther 4:16
She was saying: I fear the King of Persia…but I fear the God of Israel more. And so, I will obey God. But first I’m going to get spiritually prepared for the challenge.
Now, I’m not going to tell you the rest of the story. You’ve got a Bible… go read it yourself. Suffice it to say – Esther wins, Haman loses (big time).
But realize that Esther won ONLY because she overcame her fear. And she overcame her fear by realizing
1. It was up to her to deal with the problem.
2. If she shirked her duty, the problem would not go away
3. That in order to meet the challenge, she had to some serious fasting and prayer.
She overcame because she made a choice.
Her choice was between fearing God more… or fearing the unknown
CLOSE: A long, long time ago, in a war that took place in the Middle East, a spy was captured and sentenced to death by a general of the Persian army. The general, was an unusual man and he had adopted a strange and unusual custom in such cases.
He permitted the condemned person to make a choice.
The prisoner could either face the firing squad or pass through… the Black Door.
As the moment of the execution drew near, the general ordered the spy to be brought before him and was asked: "What shall it be - the firing squad or the Black Door?"
This was not an easy decision and the prisoner hesitated but ultimately chose the firing squad - preferring it to the unknown horrors that might wait for him behind the ominous and mysterious door.
Not much later, gunshots filled the air, and the spy lay dead on the ground.
The general, staring at his boots, turned to his aide and said "You see how it is with men; they will always prefer the known way to the unknown. It is characteristic of people to be afraid of the undefined. Yet I gave him his choice."
The aide was curious and asked: "What lies beyond the Black Door?".
The general smiled grimly and replied, "Freedom… and I’ve known only a few brave enough to take it."
The one thing that we fear most in our lives is the unknown. The unforeseen. The uncontrolled. This fear has the ability to immobilize us and haunt our dreams. It is when we’re faced with such fear that we most need to make a choice: Will we trust God, or give in to our fears. For it is only in trusting God that we can find freedom in our lives.
