ESTHER — Part Four
ESTHER USED TO THWART SATAN
ESTHER USED TO THWART SATAN
Esther’s spiritual struggle has been won by faith. Now her faith must take action. The way of real faith causes action in our lives. James teaches in James 2:19;
But some may well say, “You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
James does not address this scripture to unbelievers, but to believers who wish to live a life of faith. Think about this. Why would God want us to be conformed to the image of His Son (c.f. Rom. 8:29), and it not show in our lives to others? Our actions will testify to the spiritual victory we have achieved by faith.
ESTHER 5:1–5
1. Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace.
2. And it happened when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight, and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.
3. Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it will be given to you.”
4. And Esther said, “If it please the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.
5. Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly that we may do as Esther desires.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
The Bible evidences over and over when things are done God’s way the path is smooth. The hard part of the Christian life is deciding by faith to do things God’s way. When the decisions are made, promises are claimed, and we step out in faith the obstacles that our fears have put there disappear. Notice the extent of the grace that the king offers Esther. Notice also, his immediate perception that she had a problem. Also notice how quickly he acted to reassure her that whatever her problem was he would act to solve it. Now, remember her fear of the “worst” case scenario happening to her. We can learn from this. Our fears never portray what the true reality of the future will be. Or, to put it better, fear will distort the realities of life. Christian women need so desperately to learn this lesson. When fear enters our lives we must learn to recognize it for what it is — a tool of Satan. Then, by faith, in the multiple promises and the perfect character of God, we can refuse to be dominated by the fears that attack us.
Of added interest we should note that Esther did not immediately address the specifics of her problem to Ahasuerus. We can only speculate as to why. Obviously Esther had made a plan before she came to the king because the scripture says the banquet was already prepared. Esther had conquered her fear of dying with faith. However, she had no way of knowing the extent of grace the king would offer her. A banquet would create the most favorable setting. She knew what all women should know — men are easier to deal with when their stomachs have been fed. Remember too that Haman had risen to a place of prominence. She didn’t know if the king would believe her over him. The throne room setting would be more conducive to the king believing Haman than her. Esther shows a lot of female wisdom in this decision. She gives herself every advantage to make her mission a success. Is this wrong? Of course not! Matters of state were considered men’s business in Persia. Esther was not going to try to compete with men. This would have been wrong and foolish. She was going to assure the king of her femininity by dressing in her royal robes (vs. 1) and preparing the banquet (vs. 4). God made Esther a woman, and she would not use her mission as an excuse to step out of her role as a woman. Apparently Esther knew what all Christian women should know, and which is: when God uses us it will be as women fulfilling our roles as women. Never, will he ask us to deny our gender in any way.
ESTHER 5:6–8
6. And as they drank their wine at the banquet, the king said to Esther, “what is your petition, for it shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall he done.
7. So Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is:
8. if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and do what I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet which I shall prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king says.
Does this not seem strange? The king recognized her in the throne room and promised her favor. Again he promises her success in her petition at her banquet. Why does she delay? Why not just go ahead and tell the king what her problem is? We will see from scripture that this delay is providential. Yet, Esther does not have omniscience. She did not know what would happen in the next twenty-four hours. Therefore, we have to wonder what is happening. The scripture does not tell us why Esther delayed her petition. It could have been that this was her plan from the beginning, but that theory is highly doubtful. A short review of known facts is necessary before we can make any conclusions. We know that Mordecai told her that she must petition the king for the deliverance of her people. We also know that she did battle with her fears and is now willing to die, if necessary. Esther had strengthened herself with prayer and fasting. In addition, we just read that she received encouragement from the king. Knowing all this there can only be a few reasons why Esther would put off making her petition.
The first reason that comes to mind is that Esther got “cold feet.” This happens to all of us at one time or another. All logic and reasoning tells us to go ahead, yet some fear within us keeps us from doing what we know we should. So, instead of refusing to obey, we just put it off. This would indicate a struggle going on within. This is what happens when we delay because of fears within. Esther’s struggle would be her desire to not get involved versus the command to take action. She tells herself, “I am going to do this, but I really don’t want to.” We can’t really accept the “cold feet” theory or we would deny the fact that Esther had conquered her fears when she said: “if I perish, I perish.” After all when one is ready to accept death they have conquered the ultimate fear of life.
The second, and most probable, reason that Esther delayed is probably due to the urging of the Holy Spirit. We know Esther prayed and fasted. We know that what she is doing is according to the will of God. So far everything is working out above and beyond what she could have imagined. Also, from scripture we know that this delay will work out providentially to further the destruction of Haman, and encourage the king’s favor toward Mordecai and the Jewish people. From objective logic this would be the best explanation. All the way through the Bible God’s timing is confirmed over and over. Solomon tells us in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes that there is, “… a time to be silent, and a time to speak” (vs. 7). How do we know when these times are? We let the Holy Spirit guide us. One might say, “BUT how do I know if it is the Holy Spirit or my own fears?” We know by examining the known facts according to the Word of God. If we know that we have prayed about something, and we know that our purposed course of action is according to God’s will, then we will be receptive to the Holy Spirit’s leading by faith. Conversely, if we don’t believe prayers work, and if we don’t know that what we propose to do is God’s will, then we can KNOW and BE CERTAIN the Holy Spirit is not leading us. Until each of us learn to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit through prayer and the study of God’s Word, we cannot know and be certain of anything.
In the case of Esther we have enough evidence that she appropriated God’s strength and leading. Therefore, we can be fairly safe to conclude that her delay is due to sensing (through the guidance of the Holy Spirit) that the time was not right for her to make the petition. This is a wonderful lesson for Christian women who are growing and maturing. It takes faith, and only faith, in the character and faithfulness of God, to believe that we will be led in the direction He chooses for us. If we apply faith, know we have prayed about a matter, and know that this matter fits our understanding of God’s will, and yet something just doesn’t feel right, we should back off. That feeling that something isn’t just right is the Holy Spirit telling us the time is not now. Conversely, when we know that a matter is from the Lord, and we have prayed for guidance and strength, obstacles put up by humans should not deter us. The Holy Spirit speaks to our souls, and He will strengthen us to overcome obstacles. Then we will know that it was not of our doing, but of God’s doing, and most important, God will get the glory.
A lot of Christians today spend their time worrying about not recognizing God’s will or direction for their lives. They say they believe that God will tell them, but then turn right around and say they are afraid of their own natures, and won’t recognize God’s leading. Have you ever heard of the story of a man stranded on a rooftop during a flood? He made the decision to let God deliver him. First came a rowboat. Next came a speedboat, and then came a helicopter. He refused all of them because he was waiting for God to deliver him. When he died and went to heaven he asked God why He had not delivered him, and God pointed out that He had tried three different times and the man refused His deliverance. Many Christians today compare themselves to this story. They believe God works this way. They give more power to the human arrogance of discernment than they do to the power of the Holy Spirit to make known FOR CERTAIN God’s will. When in truth this story promotes a lie (which most people overlook) that God wanted to deliver this man, but the man could thwart God’s plan with his lack of discernment. Do we not know that our lives are in God’s hands? THIS MAN WOULD NOT HAVE DROWNED APART FROM GOD’S WILL. Think about this! God could have stopped the floodwaters from rising or any number of other things could have happened to save this man’s life despite his foolishness. This story promotes that man is in control by having discernment of God’s deliverance. Granted, it is true that there is much that God wants to do for us that we do not let him. However, it is never because we do not know what He wants to do, it is always because even knowing, we refuse. It is the height of arrogance for any Christian to assume God can’t or won’t make His will known to us clearly. The lie of the story is that man’s perception is greater than God’s sovereignty, and it’s just not so.
Christians excuse themselves by claiming ignorance of God’s will when the truth is, they know His will, but refuse to follow. Over and over in the Bible God showed His faithfulness by always warning before judgment, and always making His will known. Look at the nations of Israel and Judah. They were given opportunity after opportunity to repent. They knew what God wanted of them, they just refused. Look at Peter: he was told he would deny Christ before he did. Paul was instructed to not go to Jerusalem, but he did. It is never because we don’t know or understand that we oppose God. It is always a willing and informed choice. We need to understand this and quit giving ourselves the excuse of ignorance, or living in fear of our sin natures.
For the sake of brevity we will not print the scripture describing how the delay worked providentially. However, a brief synopses of the happenings are that Haman was delighted to be included in Esther’s banquets. Thus, feeling so secure, he took offense again at Mordecai and determined to ask the king to hang Mordecai the next day. In the meantime the king could not sleep (providence of God), and decided to fill his time with reading the chronicles of his reign. Again, providentially, the king came across the record of when Mordecai saved his life by informing him of the plot against his life. He determined to reward Mordecai the next day. When Haman came to the king the next day to ask that Mordecai be hung, the king first asked Haman how Mordecai could be honored. Notice even Haman is being warned by God to leave Mordecai alone. Even Haman’s wife recognized this, and told him so (Esther 6:13) when Haman reported to her what had happened. Oh yes, God does keep people informed of His will.
ESTHER 7:1–6
1. Now the king and Haman came to drink vine with Esther the queen.
2. And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”
3. Then Queen Esther answered and said, “lf I have found favor in your sight, 0 king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request;
4. for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.”
5. Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he who would presume to do thus?”
6. And Esther said, “A foe and an enemy, is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.
Don’t we just love this? The time wasn’t right the day before, but it obviously is now. God used a godly woman to thwart Satan. It was done God’s way with God’s timing, and look how perfectly everything worked? Look at how there is no question of the king’s acceptance of what Esther just told him. Everything worked out so perfectly. The Jewish people haven’t been delivered yet, but Satan’s man of the hour has certainly been revealed. We can learn from this. God has a timetable for everything. We can know this because He has a plan for each of us. God had a plan to use Esther in delivering the Jewish people from destruction. Esther could have refused, and the nation would still have been delivered. God in His omniscience would have known of Esther’s refusal, and another plan would have been in effect. This did not deny Esther’s free will to be used.
The lesson to be learned from this part of Esther’s story is a lesson of recognition. WHEN WE DO THINGS GOD’S WAY WITH GOD’S TIMING IT IS ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL. Maybe we have determined that God wants us to do something, yet met with failure after failure. We must then relax and recognize the time is not right or we are headed in the wrong direction. We should regroup in prayer and ask for guidance. We should not continue beating our heads against a wall. Recognize the lesson we can learn from Esther’s story. So many people want to decide that the failure is theirs — maybe they aren’t doing something just right. This thinking assumes that God depends on us. God doesn’t depend on anybody. He is such a gracious God that He gives us the privilege of being used. When the timing is right, when the direction we are going is according to His will, there will not be failure. How can God fail? He can’t. Therefore, if we let what we do be according to His will and strength, success is assured. Understanding this takes a lot of pressure off, and lets us relax in our Christian service.
Another lesson which can be seen and learned in these verses — look at Haman’s reaction. He becomes terrified. Do we realize that we give Satan too much power? Satan cannot stand against God. Therefore, when we think that Satan is the cause for thwarting our Christian service, we give him too much power. 1 John 4:4 says, “….greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” James 4:7 says: “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Satan cannot stop God, and neither can his emissaries. From the example of Haman we can see that they become terrified when they are exposed. Further, in their feeble attempts to save themselves, they will seal their own fates as shown in the following:
ESTHER 7:7–10
7. And the king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.
8. Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
9. Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, “Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman, made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”
10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai and the king’s anger subsided.
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