Understanding God’s Guidance
Series: Letting God Guide You
April 10, 2005
A few months ago, I decided to read and study the book of Esther. If you’ve never read this book of the bible, Esther is the story of how God used one woman to change the fate of an entire nation. However, as I read, I noticed something strange. In every other book of the bible I’ve ever read, you find the name of God or Jesus over and over… but in Esther, you can’t find it! Does that strike you as odd? It did me! A book of the bible with no mention of God? That’s kind of like writing a book on pre-natal care, without mentioning dirty diapers!
Anyway, as I looked into it a little more, I discovered that the book of Esther is the only book out the 66 books of the bible where God is never named. In fact, a lot of people over the years didn’t think it should even be included as one of the books of the bible for that reason.
But I disagree. Because even if you can’t exactly find God’s name… you CAN find His fingerprints on every page! In the book of Esther, we find God working through the lives of 5 people to carry out His will. Even though He’s invisible… He isn’t absent. In fact, that’s really the theme of the entire book. “God’s invisible… but He isn’t absent.” And if you could just remember that, it would help you make through life a lot easier. See, even though we can’t see Him, God’s working in our lives to carry out His will. Guiding us. Directing us. Leading us… most of the time without us even knowing it!
From my puny perspective…I can only see today and yesterday (even then I have trouble). But God can see tomorrow. Our hindsight is almost 20/20, so we’re great at history… but we stink at prophecy. I have no clue what’s going to happen in the next minute, let alone the next week.
But God doesn’t have any problem seeing what’s coming. Augustine put it this way, “Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence”.
The word “providence” actually comes from 2 latin words, "Pro" which means "before;" and "Video" which means "to see." So, providence means "to see before." In otherwords, God sees beforehand and plans accordingly. When we talk about the providence of God… we’re talking about God’s ability to see what’s going to happen, before it happens… and adjust His plans to deal with it.
See, God’s never caught by surprise. He never says, “Whoa! I didn’t see that one coming!” While we have no idea what’s going to happen next, our invisible God is continually, constantly, confidently working behind the scenes to work His plans. We’re down here going crazy… screaming at God, asking “What do you think you’re doing?” Why’d you allow that to happen? But He knows exactly what He’s doing. He blesses us and we praise Him for His incredible timing, but when He tests us, we squirm and question His intelligence.
It reminds me of the way my son Matthew drives. (explain) I’m freaking out, my fingernails digging into the plastic arm rests. Pumping the imaginary brake pad on the passenger side. I’m Screaming inside, while Matthew fluidly, calmly maneuvers his way through traffic. Why? Because his reflexes are 10x faster than mine! In the same way, because God sees in the future, His reflexes are faster than ours… by millenniums! In the chaos of our lives, while we’re freaking out…
Like back-seat drivers, we’re crying out…“God! Watch out for that oncoming truck! Whoa! Here comes a stop sign. While He’s got his hand on the wheel, He’s perfectly calm weaving through traffic with the greatest of ease!
In the midst of all the chaos of our lives, He knows what He’s doing. We’re tempted to take the steering wheel, but the minute we do… we crash!
As we study the book of Esther, there are going to be a few times when we want to scream, God you can’t allow that! God do you see that? But don’t worry, God sees it coming, He knows how people are going to react before they react and He’s got all the bases covered. It’s a wonder to behold! It’s like He’s playing a thousand chess games at the same time and winning every one!
There are 5 main characters in the book of Esther and we’re going to talk a lot about them in the next few weeks… 5 people who were used to work God’s plan and illustrate His guidance… As I describe each one to you this morning, I want you to see how God guides in 5 very surprising ways.
See, we want God to give us a feeling, or somehow talk to us verbally, but that’s not His main way of showing us His will. Did you know that? Just because you don’t ‘feel’ Him directing you, doesn’t necessarily mean He’s not. I think most people are way to hung up on ‘feelings’ when it comes to discovering God’s will. So while your standing around waiting for a ‘feeling’, you could be totally missing His direction. Like our skit this morning, God is talking but we’re too pre-occupied to listen. God guides in 5 ways, as these 5 people illustrate…
Let’s take them in order… 1st there’s King Xerxes. King Xerxes shows us that…
1. God can use my IGNORANCE to guide me.
Let’s read Esther 1:1-12 together. (READ)
King Xerxes was the ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire, an empire that stretched from India to Ethiopia.
He was living proof that just because a person holds a powerful position, doesn’t make him smart! Here’s this man who rules nations… but He was as stupid as a POST! How many of you have discovered that position and wisdom don’t necessarily go together? I won’t mention any names, but we have some politicians in this country that bear that truth out!
Our story begins and ends because of this guys stupidity! The opening scene of the book of Esther finds the King, drunk as a skunk! He’s smashed out of his gourd! How many of you know that people do and say stupid things when they’re drunk? (how many of you have done and said stupid things when you’re drunk? You don’t have to answer that!)
Anyway, the King throws a party complete with food, as much alcohol as you can guzzle down and dancing girls. It was like spring break in FL…. only worse! After 7 days of carousing, the bible says that King Xerxes was ‘in high spirits from wine’. (in otherwords, He was plastered!). In his drunken state, He comes up with a stupid idea. (no surprise there huh?)… “Hey, I’ve got a great idea! Lets bring out my beautiful queen, and have her parade around in front of my buddies, wearing nothing but a ‘tiara’. Yeh, that’s the ticket!”
Well even though it went over great with his friends, Queen Vashti was a classy lady and showing herself off to a bunch of drunken, slobbering pigs… wasn’t her idea of fun! So she refused!
Which led to the 2nd stupid decision on the part of the King! His feelings hurt, He asked his advisors what He should do about his defiant queen. Surrounded by ‘morons’, they suggest that they banish the queen for her insolence and find another one who is less opinionated and prudish. Not only will that deal with her, but it’ll send a message to all the other women in the kingdom that they better obey their husbands every beck & call…or else! He’s the king of the castle, and their job is to remain barefoot and pregnant!
(READ Esther 1:21,22) “The king and his officials liked this idea, and the king did what Memucan suggested. To each of the royal provinces he sent a message in the language and the system of writing of that province, saying that every husband should be the master of his home and speak with final authority.” (GN)
Uh… guys this part of the passage should come with a warning: “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!” Trust me, it won’t work!
Let me just say that if you don’t earn your respect as the head of the home, you don’t deserve it! The bible tells us in Eph. 5 that wives are supposed to submit to their husbands… but only because their husbands are submitted to Christ! Husbands are commanded to love their wives as Christ loved the church. You know what that means don’t you? It means that we’re willing to give up our life for her! That’s how much Christ loved His church. Let me tell you something men, when you get to the point where you’re loving your wife in a sacrificial way, treating her with respect and honor… making sure her needs are met, helping her with her emotional problems instead of condemning her for them… you will be the king of your home! She’d love to have a leader in her home like that!
Too bad King Xerxes listened to the wrong advisors! Because his short-sighted decisions, He lost a beautiful and charming woman. Later He regretted His decision, but it was too late. See as the King, His words were made into unbreakable laws, that not even He could change.
Men, I wonder how many of our bad, stubborn & proud decisions are robbing us of a wonderful marriage relationship with our queen? How many of our harsh, foolish words have hardened into unbreakable laws? To the point that we find ourselves helpless to change them, even though we know they’re destroying our relationship.
If that’s you this morning, I’ve got good news for you! God can use even our stupidity to carry out His plans! Isn’t that great? As we’ll soon see, God used this Kings dumb decisions to put His own plan into action See, God has a plan for our life, that even our own stupidly can’t mess up! I love that! You say, “Well, pastor, you don’t understand how bad I’ve messed it up!” You’re right! I probably don’t… but God does! And I’m here to tell you that He took your foolishness, and He took my foolishness into consideration when He formed His plans!
And at whatever point you decide to stop punishing yourself… or at whatever point you decide to stop trying to run your own life (cause you’re doing a bad job at it)… that’s the point that He’ll take over and begin to re-direct your life to fit His perfect plan for you! It’s amazing… but true! So God has the ability to guide me using even my ignorance and stupidity. Wow!
Now although we hear about her, we never really hear from the 2nd character of our story… Queen Vashti. Queen Vashti shows that…
2. God can use SILENCE to guide me.
3 years had passed since Xerxes had divorced Vashti and dethroned her as queen, but in all that time, we never hear a peep out of her… or God. If you were Queen Vashti you’d probably be thinking… “God, where are you? Why aren’t you saying anything? I did the right thing, but you don’t seem to be interested.”
The fact of the matter is, God uses silence to guide us more often than He uses His voice. Did you hear that? In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the periods of God’s silence are just as significant as the times when He speaks. Now, listen, because if you don’t understand this principle of God’s guidance, you’re going to waste a lot of time doubting God when you should be trusting Him. You’re going to be waiting for Him to say something, and miss His guidance.
If you don’t believe that God uses silence… then when God’s silent, you’ll panic… you’ll become cynical, resentful, you’ll even get angry at Him. See, just because God is silent, doesn’t mean He’s absent. Just because God is silent, doesn’t mean He’s lazy. Listen…God is a very quiet worker. In fact He works better when He’s silent.
Now we don’t understand that, because we think the noisier you are, the busier you are. We send our kids upstairs to clean their rooms and if they’re not making a lot of noise, we get suspicious. Not with God! In fact, by the time He makes a lot of noise, the works already been done!
Next, let me introduce you to a godly Jewish man named Mordecai. (READ Esther 2:5,6) Sounds like kind of an insignificant guy doesn’t he? Here we’ve been talking about Kings, Queens, and palace politics… and then this description of a ‘nobody’ that nobody really cares about. Who cares that he’s the son of Jair? What does being from the tribe of Jehoichin have to do with anything? Well, as we’ll find out…a lot. Mordecai illustrates the fact that…
3. God can use my COINCIDENCES to guide me.
Years before the story Esther begins, the Jews had a civil war and divided into the Southern and the Northern Kingdoms. Sort of like our nations civil war, only the Northern Kingdom was called Israel, and the Southern kingdom was called Judea. Eventually God judged both kingdoms for their sins and their people were hauled off in bondage. Mordecai was a descendent of one of those exiled Jews who ended up in Babylon (modern day Iraq).
Vs. 2:19 tells us that Mordecai had been appointed to an administrative position by the king, and then something happened to Mordecai in vs. 21 that seems insignificant (some people would even call it coincidence) but I’d call it God’s providence. (READ vs. 21) Mordecai, overheard a plot to assassinate the King and reported it. After an investigation, the two men who were planning it, were hung and Mordecai’s name was recorded the Kings official history book.
His name was quickly forgotten, but later (as we’ll see) that seemingly insignificant fact re-surfaces to play a pivotal part in God’s plan to save His nation. He placed Mordecai in just the right spot at just the right time so he could discover the plot to overthrow the king.
Have you ever had something happen (maybe you ran into someone you never expected to see, or a situation worked out just right ) where you were tempted to think, “Wow! What were the chances of that happening?” I remember a couple of times when we needed a certain amount of money to make a payment, and out of nowhere our insurance company, or some obscure co. sends us a rebate check that perfectly covered the amount we needed. When I tell people that, they say, “Well, that was just a coincidence!” I’m thinking, “Hmmm… funny how the more I pray the more coincidences I have happen in my life!”
Someone once said that “a coincidence is when God chooses to act anonymously”. I like that! The truth is, with God, there’s no such thing as a coincidence! Life is filled with appointments, not accidents. God’s working in the smallest details of our lives to carry out His will and work His plans.
The fact that He had Mordacai in just the right place, at just the right moment to hear an assassination plot is no coincidence as we’ll see later on! And it’s also no coincidence that you’re here this morning hearing this message at this time in your life! God is able to guide us through the ‘so-called’ coincidences of our lives.
Normally all of the good choir people came to church on Wednesday night to practice, and they tended to be early, well before the 7:30 starting time which is early for us Baptists. But one night, March 1, 1950, one by one, two by two, they all had excuses for being late. Marilyn, the church pianist, overslept on her after- dinner nap, so she and her mother were late. One girl, a high school student, was having trouble with her homework. That delayed her, so she was late. One couple couldn’t get their car started. They, and those they were to pick up, ended up being late. All 18 choir members, including the pastor and his wife, were late. All had good excuses. At 7:30, the time the choir rehearsal was to begin, not one soul was in the choir loft. This had never happened before. Now for the rest of the story. That night, the only night in the history of the church that the choir wasn’t starting to practice at 7:30, was the night that there was a gas leak in the basement of the West Side Baptist Church. At precisely the time at which the choir would have been singing, the gas leak was ignited by the church furnace and the whole building blew up. Was this just a fluke that no one was injured or killed? Was it just coincidence that made everyone late for choir practice that night? That’s what some people would say. But we know better. We know that God was watching over the members of West Side Baptist Church that night and as Jehovah Jireh, he saw the need before it was there and he provided.
While the Queen and King are sitting it out in their own private palaces…stewing over this situation. God puts the next piece of His master plan to save a nation, into play… In chap.2 we’re introduced to the ‘star’ of our story. Her name is ‘Esther’ and her name lit. means ‘star’! Esther illus. the fact that…
4. God can use my BROKENESS to guide me.
Vs. 2:7 reveals to us that Mordacai had a little cousin… (READ)
Esther was an orphan. At the death of her parents, Mordacai stepped in to adopt her and raise her as his own. So here we have this young girl (who must have cried her heart out at the death of her parents)… but as bad as that was…God had a plan for her life. She would become the key to the survival of her own people.
Did you know that as bad as your situation seems, that God has a plan? It’s an incredible message if you’ve been adopted, or maybe had something tragic happen to you as a child. If your past is so fractured and broken that you think there’s no way God could use you… you’re wrong! God can take your worst tragedies and turn them into victory’s! He can take the worst things imaginable and use them to direct you into His perfect plan.
And now we come to the villain of our story. The evil Haman.
(READ Esther 3:1-6) Do you have a favorite villain? Maybe it’s “Darth Vader”, or the “Joker” My favorite villain was “Snidely Whiplash” from the cartoon “Dudley Dooright”. Anybody remember him and admit they watched the cartoon?
A villain is a person we love to hate, and Haman fits the bill perfectly. He’s the Hitler of his day, because he’d like nothing better than to wipe out the Jewish race. Haman was a wealthy influential officer in the court, and He tries to use his influence to promote himself and murder innocent people. Haman illustrates God’s ability to use even my enemies to guide me.
5. God can use my ENEMIES to guide me.
Do you have any enemies?
· People that have hurt you repeatedly.
· People that you struggle to get along with.
· Someone who’s constantly criticizing you, putting you down.
Maybe a parent. Someone at work. An ex-spouse. A mother-in-law. (reminds me of someone who said, “Behind every great man is a surprised mother-in-law”) We all have enemies who seem to be out to destroy us. But what we may never have realized is that God has allowed them to come into our lives to direct us.
I remember when I was still in college, I needed to make a lot of money during the summer so I could return the next year, so Rudonna suggested that I hook up with some family friends of hers and go on what the farmers in OK. call, “Harvest”. So here I was, a city boy from Phoenix, unusually blessed with 10 thumbs, going out into the fields to harvest wheat, with guys my age who had been working on farm equipment since they were in diapers!
Needless to say, I didn’t do very well. I couldn’t run a combine so they put me in a diesel truck to haul the grain to the elevator. The owner of the business quickly became my worst enemy. The more he got on my case, the worse I messed up. I got the truck stuck in the mud about every day… one time we were hauling some plows down the highway, and I accidentally lowered them and put a nice long furrow down the center-line!
But the frosting on the cake happened when I was dumping the grain at the elevator, I pushed the wrong button and the fully loaded bed came crashing down on the back of the truck, destroying the hydraulic system.
This guy hated me and I couldn’t figure out why! On top of that, he found out that I was a Christian training to be a preacher… and He hated preachers! After my last incident, he fired me, bought a ticket on the next Greyhound, and I was outta there! He’s the worst enemy I ever had, but the Lord used Him to teach me some lessons about life… if nothing else, He confirmed in my heart that I was definately called into the ministry and not farming!
God will use your enemies to guide you if they don’t kill you first!
It was because of Haman, that Esther found her purpose in life and grew into a strong woman for God.
In the time we have left, let me give you 5 ways you can get guidance from God…
1. Since God can use my ignorance, I need to GAIN INSIGHT
God can guide me and even use even my stupid decisions. But not forever! At some point I need to stop making foolish decisions, and get wisdom. Because every time I make a “bozo” choice, or a wrong choice… my family, my kids, people around me end up getting hurt. The bible says “knowing God is the beginning of wisdom”. If you’ll let Him, God will use the wrong decisions of your past, to lead you to right decisions in the future.
2ndly…
2. Since God can use silence, I need to learn to BE QUIET
Maybe you’re going through a trial or a hardship this morning and you’re tempted to think “Since God’s not doing anything, He must not care… or worse… He doesn’t really exist.” If that’s you, can I give you some real good advise? Clamp it! You don’t know what you’re talking about, and the more you talk, the more you’re going to regret it in the end! Be still…deliberately pause and discover that God is God! His ways aren’t our ways… The bible says in Isa. 55:8,9, that… (READ)
We can’t understand God, and even if He did tell us what He’s up to… we couldn’t handle it! So stop trying manipulate the situation, stop trying to pull your own strings, stop trying to make excuses and BE QUIET! The immortal, invisible, all-wise God… hidden from our eyes…is at work. Be still and for a change… listen! You might learn something!
3. Since God can use my coincidences, I need to PAY ATTENTION
In the opening pages of his autobiography, “An American Life”, Ronald Reagan writes, “I was raised to believe that God had a plan for everyone and that seemingly random twists of fate are all a part of His plan. My mother - a small woman with auburn hair and a sense of optimism that ran as deep as the cosmos - told me that everything in life happened for a purpose. She said all things were part of God’s plan, even the most disheartening setbacks, and in the end, everything worked out for the best. If something went wrong, she said, you didn’t let it get you down: You stepped away from it, stepped over it, and moved on. Later on, she added, something good will happen and you’ll find yourself thinking - "If I hadn’t had that problem back then, then this better thing that did happen wouldn’t have happened to me."After I lost the job at Montgomery Ward, I left home again in search of work. Although I didn’t know it then, I was beginning a journey that would take me a long way from Dixon and fulfill all my dreams and then some. My mother, as usual, was right.SOURCE: An American Life by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan’s mother WAS right! He’s using your seemingly insignificant circumstances right now to fulfill your dreams… if you’ll let Him! You need to think like Reagans mom taught Him to think…
"If I hadn’t had that problem back then, then this better thing that did happen wouldn’t have happened to me."
Then…
4. Since God can use my brokenness… I need to STAY HUMBLE
Someone once said that, “Adversity introduces you to yourself.” That’s sooooo true! Know what? Most of you here this morning are here because something in your life was broken. A marriage, a promise, your emotions, your pride… whatever. When brokenness comes your way, you can choose one of 3 responses…
1. You can rebel against it and grow bitter.
2. You can gradually cave in under the pressure.
3. You can respond positively to it and mature. In otherwords, you can either go through it, or GROW through it!
If you decide to grow through it… God will use your brokenness to help other people. He wants to recycle the pain in your life and use it to help someone else in the very same situation. We think God only uses gifted, talented people. That’s not true. God uses ordinary people. We think, "God will only use my strengths, my talents." But God says, "I want to use your strengths; but not as much as I want to use your weaknesses!."
That’s because some people may be helped by your strengths; but MORE people are helped when you’re honest about your weaknesses. You share your strength, they say, "Yea that’s nice but I’ll never be able to do that!”. But when you share your weaknesses, they say, "I can relate to that. Maybe this person knows what they’re talking about!"
As you share from your hurts, habits, and hang-ups of things you’re recovering from, God will direct you and use you in amazing ways
God used the Apostle Paul, (who’d previously persecuted Christians) to reach millions with the message of Jesus Christ
In Eph. 3:8, He says, “Just think! Though I did nothing to deserve it, and though I am the least deserving Christian there is, I was chosen for this special joy of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.”
When you understand that God wants to use your weaknesses and pain, not hide them… life takes on a whole new meaning. In fact, you’ll know that God has healed you when you begin to focus outside of yourself. You stop being self absorbed – (always thinking about my needs, my hurts, my problems) and you start saying, "How can I help other people? How can I use my past hurts to help present people?”
In II Cor. 7:9 , Paul says "I am glad, not because it hurts you, but because the pain turns you to God." He’s telling us…God used pain to call your name… and it got your attention! See, this is what you have to understand about God. God loves you so much that He’s willing to allow pain in my life, if in the end it brings me to the point of healing. And when you get sick and tired of the pain… and finally submit yourself to His care…rejecting the fear, rejecting the shame… you’ll wonder what took you so long!
Chuck Coleson was a man who had everything going for him. He was called the ‘hatchet-man’ during the Nixon Administration. But at the peak of his success, he got involved in a petty theft. It was eventually known as “Watergate” and led to him spending a few years in the penitentiary. But while he was there, humiliated, humbled and shamed… he gave his life to Jesus Christ and when he came out of that prison he started a ministry called “Prison Fellowship”. It’s purpose is to help ex-cons not only find Christ, but to help them reactivate themselves back into normal society.
If you were to ask Chuck Coleson today what the worst day of his life was he’d tell you… “It was the day they sent me to prison”! If you were to ask Him what the most life changing day in his life was, he’d tell you… “It was the day they sent me to prison”!
Some of you have similar stories you could tell. Where the ‘worst’ day of your life, turned out to be the ‘best’ day of your life. God used pain to wake you up and get your attention, and you’ve never been the same since! But it only turned out that way, because you stopped struggling and fighting with God long enough to hear what He had to say to you.
Someone once said that, “When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes and impossible person and crushes him!” Allow God to break you, so He can use you!
Then lastly…
5. Since God can use my enemies, I need to RESIST REVENGE
I read this week that the most dangerous human being on earth is a prisoner who gets a hold of a weapon. We’ve seen that happen recently in the news Why? Because of our desire to get revenge on our enemies. We start thinking… “Why not fight fire with fire? Write that harsh e-mail… pay back evil with evil!”
You need to know that God will never lead you and you’ll never sense His blessing on your life, if that’s your attitude. I had a chance a few years ago to try and get even with some people that hurt me very deeply… and I’m sooooo glad I didn’t take it. Because if I had, God would’ve never led me to start this church, and I wouldn’t be experiencing the joy being in the center of His will, that I am today! Take it from me… resist revenge, fully forgive your offenders one by one and name by name… and gain life!
· It’s no accident that the King made the dumb decisions he made.
· It’s no coincidence that Queen Vashti took the stand she took.
· It’s no happenstance that Mordacai was there to eavesdrop on an assassination attempt when He was.
· It’s not luck that Esther becomes queen when she did.
God placed Esther in the right place at the right time to carry out his will and his plan for the salvation of his people. Mordecai knew that, and Esther learned it. The same holds true for us. God has us in the right place at the right time to serve him and bring about the fulfillment of his will.
· It’s not coincidental that you work where you do.
· It’s not fate that you live in the neighborhood you live in.
· Your life, your relationships, your job, your friends, your “everything” is not just dumb-luck. It’s providence.
· It’s not by chance that you’re here this morning.
God has something for you to do. God has placed you where you’re at to be an influence for him in the lives of the people that you come in contact with everyday. His invisible hand is moving in your life. Let Him guide you into His plan for your life. You’ll be eternally glad you did!
Lets Pray!
