Queen Esther Sermon Iii: It's About God's Timing Series

ESTHER: GOD’S TIMING ALWAYS RIGHT

As the sordid Saga surrounding the intriguing drama of Esther’s positioning for “such a time as this” seemingly goes on and on with no good ending in sight, a lesson in “whose timing ought we be concerned about anyway” is being taught us a little at a time.

Because we have read the end of the book we know what God has in store for His people. My question is: “What has God got scheduled for you . . . for me?”

Don’t you just love the way our Lord works in and through those who are, and that which is, insignificant in the eyes of the world of fame and fortune to position those who are, and that which can be useful as His instruments, in order to accomplish His plan and purpose for His people.

Therein lies comfort and hope for we who “trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding but, in all our ways, acknowledge Him, for He has promised to direct our paths”!

Comes to mind the Apostle Paul whose insignificance in the eyes of all who hated him, and whose infirmity of the flesh was used against him, yet whose favor in God’s sight put him repeatedly in a position for carrying out the Great Commission.

Paul prayed for God to remove his “thorn in the flesh”; wouldn’t you and I? Of course! There are so many weaknesses of which I am aware in my own life that give me pause, and make me wonder how God can keep putting up with me, let alone keep using me.

In and thru it all, what we need to hear from the Lord is what Paul heard: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

It is no secret therefore that the power of Christ rests on those who love the Lord; the amazing grace of God works through us to do His Will which, after all, is why we are called to follow Christ: To be God’s and to do God’s Will, not for the praise of man but for the Lord.

God has often used unlikely leaders to deliver His people from the clutches of evil into which society devolves from time to time. Who, for example, would have thought that a carpenter’s son from an obscure village would one day become the Savior of the world and the Lord of life eternal . . . a shepherd boy with a sling and a few stones would defeat Israel’s gigantic enemy and become the king through whom the Savior would come?

Who would have thought that a young Jewish virtuoso named Hadassah to be renamed Esther would come to the Persian kingdom for “such a time as this”? Unheard of in those days of Jewish captivity when Satan’s plan for them was their extinction and eradication.

All the bad guys had strutted their stuff on the stage of the Persian Palace in the hope of getting rid of the good guy. Haman the Jew hater - mastermind of the plot to take out Mordecai and to take down the Jewish people - got the edict that he tricked the king into signing.

Then what happened? The God of Israel showed up. God’s timing kicked in. Esther’s positioning in the right place at the right time after spending a lot of time in the wrong place at the wrong time was about to become effective in a way that could only be wrought by the Lord God – Esther 4:1-3 . . .

Nowhere in the Bible is injustice exposed to a greater degree than it is here: Haman’s ruthless scheme to take out Mordecai and to take down other Jews with him has now been made public. Thousands of innocent people would be affected by an evil scheme designed to get one man. Widespread grief blanketed a nation.

If you yourself, or someone close to you or your family, or your family itself has ever wound up as the target of unjust law or schemes, in what way(s) did you respond? Did you: lament it or ignore it . . . pray about it or forget about it . . . join forces with like-minded doers of good or worldly-minded evil doers . . . act gently or violently . . . set your sights on positive or negative outcomes?

In situations like those we’ve described, emotions run high; and that’s okay – as long as respect and right thinking are maintained, as we shall see in this next passage of Scripture which highlights the emotional interaction between Esther and Mordecai – Esther 4:4-9 . . .

Money talks - so they say – and unfortunately, they are right! A huge sum of money had been promised in exchange for the destruction of the Jews.