10/4/2011 7:17:16 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Divine Sovereignty
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ester 5:1-5
Message of the verses: “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 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 shall be given to you." 4 Esther said, "If it pleases 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.”
In today’s SD we begin the all important fifth chapter of the book of Ester. Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter in his commentary on Ester “The Day in The Life of The Prime Minister.” He begins this chapter giving a little idea of what the chapter is going to be about by writing two things: “In which an evil man gathers enough rope to hang himself,” and “Haman didn’t realize it, but four forces had already begun to work together to destroy him.”
We remember that at the end of the forth chapter we left Mordecai and Ester and some of their friends going on a three day fast and prayer time to seek the Lord that He might intervene on the Jews behalf so that they would not be all killed because of the law that Haman had convinced the king to write. Chapter five and verse one we see will take place after that fasting and prayer time.
First let us look at a portion of a Psalm that will describe Haman: “14 Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. 15 He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. 16 His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate, (Psalm 7:14-16).”
It took a great deal of faith on the part of Ester to approach the king with her request. Let us look at some verses that show that Ester was not acting on blind faith, but faith that could be seen from the pages of Scripture. First let’s look at Genesis 12:1-3, verses we have looked at before, “1 ¶ Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’” Now we will look at another familiar verse 2Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Now we will look at a verse from the NT that has caused many people to misunderstand the way of Salvation, for the verse speaks of what should happen after one is saved, and this verse shows what Ester did do as an act of faith, “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” Ester’s faith was not useless, and it was not dead as some translations of the Bible use in this verse. Ester had a great faith in the Living God, and it showed up in her work by going to see the king in spite of having her life hang in the balance.
Dr. Wiersbe writes of Ester’s preparation “Preparing to pray is as important as praying itself,” Ester was not only prepared to pray, for she and her friends had prayed for this moment, but she also prepared herself by putting on her queens attire, and also knowing the prodigal of the palace. Ester was indeed prepared.
Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
Dr. Wiersbe gives four reasons why Ester did not divulge the real reason that she came to the king about right away: The first reason was that this was not the right time.” When one looks at what will happen in the remaining parts of the book of Ester one will see that the providence of God was still at work. It was also not the right time to tell the king because he was not ready to hear this kind of news at that time. I am sure that this wisdom that Ester used came from the hand of God, as God is an all wise God.
The second reason is that the throne room was not the right place for her to speak to the king about this issue. There were surely others present in the throne room who would have heard this request and so it was better to do it in a private setting.
“The third reason was Ester wanted Haman, and only Haman, present when she told the king about his prime minister’s evil plot.” When we get to that part we will be able to see why she wanted only Haman present with her and the king.
The forth reason was not known to Ester and was alluded to when I wrote about the first reason and that was the fact that the king would not be able to sleep this night and would discover that no one had rewarded Mordecia for saving his life as he read through the chronicles that night. As the proverb above mentions that God is in control of the king’s life, we see that He was even in control of the kings sleep, or lack of it.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am surely no king like this king was a king but I have had nights when I could not sleep and in some of those nights it was because the Lord was truly speaking to my heart. I can remember one night like this in November of 2003. I had had the privilege to lead a number of our neighbors to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that Wednesday before the eve of Thanksgiving the Lord made it very plain to me that He was the One who had done this miracle, and showed me that it surely was a miracle to see someone come to the Lord. I have never looked at the salvation of a soul in a flippant way again, but only a miracle from the gracious hand of God.
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
1. Trust the Lord even on nights when I cannot sleep, for He may be using that time of sleeplessness to show me something I need to know.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
3. Continue to make my prayer life better, and to the glory of God.
10/4/2011 8:15:56 AM
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