God's Timing Is Better

Well, I feel like we’re in this couple weeks here of story time where we are able to look at a story in scripture and walk away with some truth to apply to our lives. Jesus often taught through stories. They are a great way to hear truth.

Last week we talked through a bit of Nehemiah, especially looking at chapter 4, where he miraculously, by the grace of God finds favor with King Artaxerxes and is sent to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city.

Now, before we go to far, I want to correct something I said last week. A few times in saying that Nehemiah was broken hearted over the destruction of Jerusalem, I also mentioned the temple. I want to correct that and clarify, the temple had already been rebuilt.

And I just said that in passing, so I wanted to correct that. But, if you’ve read the books around Nehemiah, Ezra and Esther, the timeline for those three books can be confusing.

The books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther all cover the same time period of Kings of the Persian empire.

The / / Persian empire, or also known as the Achaemenid or Achaemenian Empire was where current day Iran is. It was led by Cyrus the Great who came into power in 550 BC, and it was known as the First Persian Empire.

At the time it was the largest empire the world had ever seen. It was more than 2 million square miles. To put that into context that is roughly 2/3 of mainland United States. It spanned from Egypt to the middle of Asia.

And of course this included the Northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

As I mentioned last week, Israel, or the northern kingdom was defeated and carried away in exile by the / / Assyrian empire around 730-720 BC. This whole time and space, this region of land is the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms. And so, / / roughly 100 years later the Babylonian empire rises in power, overtakes the Assyrian empire and another bunch of years pass and the / / Babylonian Empire conquers the southern kingdom of Judah, and completely destroys the capitol city, Jerusalem, including the temple in 586 BC.

Now, I know this isn’t a world history class, but If we are going to read the Bible, and if we are going to pull truth from it, it has to make sense and we should know some things along the way. And when you’ve got all these kings and empires and nations being thrown at you, it can be a bit confusing. I’ve also talked a lot in the past about context, and context is incredibly important. And context includes what’s happening in the world around the story.

It’s important to be as accurate as we possibly can be.

So, Assyrian empire conquers Israel. The people are carried off into exile, and do not return to Israel. Or at least not by a King’s official edict like the southern nation of Judah.

Then the Assyrian empire falls, the Babylonian empire rises up and it’s the Babylonian empire that conquers Judah, destroys Jerusalem and the temple and carries the people off into exile. But like all the kingdoms of this world, the Babylonian kingdom doesn’t last either. About 50 years after Babylon conquers Jerusalem, / / Cyrus the Great, the King of the Persian empire rises up, and they overtake the Babylonian empire in 539 BC.

So, at the time of these three books, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, the northern kingdom of Israel is exiled. The southern kingdom of Judah is exiled. There are very few Jewish people living in the promised land they had been given by God. And the Persian Empire is in power and it is the greatest and largest empire and power there has been to this point in world history.

Now, as I said, I’m bringing a correction on what I said in regards to Nehemiah being upset about the destruction of the city and also the temple, it is the book of Ezra that talks about the rebuilding of the temple, and then the book of Nehemiah covers the rebuilding of the walls, and Esther actually happens between the two.

So, Ezra 1:1 says, / / In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia [539-538 BC], the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah [approx 650-570 BC. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it through his kingdom:

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdom of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you!”

This is a really important thing to look at, especially in todays day and age with a bit of political unrest. Now, if you know me, you know that I leave politics off of this stage. First of all because legally I can’t endorse any political party or candidate from the platform because that would be an official endorsement by our church as an organization, and you just can’t do that under our tax exempt, 501(c)3 status.

But more importantly, and this is where I stand and what I believe, is that I believe that you should be and ARE smart enough to decide for yourself who to vote for based on your belief in Jesus Christ and the word of God. In this church we teach that / / the bible and our faith in and following of Jesus Christ informs our world view and our decisions.

God created the world, he is the King of kings of Lord of lords and he is the one who defines truth. There is no ifs ands or buts about that.

And my job is to teach you and help you see that truth. I understand I’m only a part of that journey for anyone, but I take it seriously. And I fully believe that in the truth of the word of God and in the following of Jesus Christ we will personally have the answers we need to vote the way we should.

I also believe that unfortunately politics are not black and white. They are not right or wrong. It’s not like one part is godly and the other is not. One party is not good and the other evil.

There are values and positions that are both good and evil.

There are politicians and people in power who act both in good and evil ways.

There is truth and there is deception on both sides of the aisle.

And let me say this as well so that we’re not just focusing on the potentially negative.

God moves on both sides of the aisle.

There are good people trying to do good things on both sides of the aisle.

Please do not let this political season we are stepping into get you to a point where you curse people who have been created in God’s image simply because they hold a political office. We have to watch our words and watch our hearts in these seasons!

If there were ever a time to pray for our leaders, it is now. Regardless of who you vote for - pray that our leaders encounter the grace and mercy of God and are transformed by His goodness. Not so that “we” win, whatever that might mean, but so that God receives the glory!

Having said all of that, that doesn’t mean I won’t have personal political conversations, I’m always available to talk through things if you want to or need to. But I believe the words of Jesus in John 8:31-32, when he said, / / “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

A lot of people like to quote the second part of that. The truth will set me free… It’s like a, “I did it right, and so I will be vindicated!”

But they use it out of context thinking about their own freedom based on their own actions. But look at what Jesus is really saying there.

He’s saying you’re not actually a disciple if you don’t follow what he says. Following what Jesus taught is what actually makes us a disciple. You learn, you apply!

And it’s in the applying that the truth is manifested in our lives which brings us to freedom.

/ / Simply knowing does not set me free. Following what I know I’m supposed to do is what makes me free!

Ask anyone who has ever tried to change a habit, live healthy, learn to do something new….. It’s not about what you know, it’s about applying what you know to your life to see results.

Knowledge itself does not set you free. Know the truth that Jesus proclaims. Live that truth. Be set free!

Why am I saying all of this?

Well, because what we just read in Ezra 1 shows us something really important about truth and about the political system of, I would say, pretty much every time frame ever in history.

Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, is not an Israelite. He’s not faithful to the God of Israel. But what he did do was allow people, all people, regardless of their background, the right to worship and live the way they did before he took over.

Look at the story of Daniel, which is right before all of this, under the Babylonian Empire. King Nebuchadnezzar, who took over the nation of Judah, he threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abedneggo in a raging fiery furnace simply because they wouldn’t worship him as a god.

We have to remember, when we read the Bible, we’re reading the history of Israel, right? We’re reading the Jewish religious history. Obviously concerned primarily with the history of Israel and her people. It is very likely that this edict, written about in Ezra 1 is very similar to what would be written to any other religion that may want to go rebuild their own temples after they had been conquered by the Babylonian empire now that they are under Persian rule.

Cyrus is not a “Christian figure” let’s say. He’s not a follower of God. Historians say he seemed to be a very benevolent ruler and allowed people the rights to live and worship as they did before they had been conquered. That just means he’s tolerant of all religious practices. Which would probably include pagan religions that involve child sacrifice and a whole lot of very evil practices.

Yet, what happens? And this is my point. When we read Ezra 1, what do we see? Cyrus the Great, not a follower of God, becomes very instrumental to the rebuilding of the temple of God in Jerusalem. He writes orders that the people of Judah go back to the city to rebuild the temple, and he funds it too.

This is how I would caution you, or encourage you, to look at this in regards to how this impacts our own lives in the here and now. Political leaders often have political aspirations. They lobby for your vote. They are kind to you for your vote. They want you to like them so you will vote for them. It’s simply just the nature of their job. It makes sense. And what they do, either for or against the people of God does not necessarily endorse a godly lifestyle or a Christian moral standing for their own life.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t good people. Or doing it for good reasons. Cyrus the Great conquered the known world and put everyone under his rule, but was kind enough to let people live how they saw fit.

So, what I’m saying to you is this:

/ / Don’t ever discount God working through anyone for the purposes of God.

You don’t have to be a follower of God to make a way for the people of God. Don’t think that God can’t move on your behalf through the lives of those who don’t believe.

Look at the story of Nehemiah we read last week. King Artaxerxes funded the rebuilding of Jerusalem at the request of Nehemiah, not because he suddenly had a revelation and change of heart and decided to follow the God of Israel.

Yes, we really really need to be praying for godly, Jesus following leaders that are appropriately equipped and ready for the job for every political sphere we have. #1, that’s the goal. Good, Jesus followers who are actually good at leading and good at political roles, who will lead with integrity and a strong biblical moral baseline.

But also, pray for God to work in and through those who are already in position for the working of God’s purposes within the earth. Yes, primarily pray for their salvation, but also pray that they see the truth and live by it and lead by it. God can make a way through anyone. Pray that those in positions of leadership see truth and have discernment.

And that’s the story of Ezra, it’s the story of Nehemiah, and it’s the story of Esther. These kings who are not followers of God, find themselves being very instrumental in the purposes of God, because the people of God are living a life of faithfulness and prayer to God.

So, today I want to look at the story of Esther and ask an important question.

First of all, from a timeline, we talked a bit about Cyrus the Great, he’s the king of Persian who allowed Ezra to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, that’s about 539 BC. Cyrus the great dies in 530 BC, the building of the temple stops somewhere in there and for about a decade nothing happens. It’s not until 520 BC that the temple work begins again and by 516 the temple is rebuilt and dedicated to the Lord. This would have been under the rule of a king named Darius.

Then when we get to the book of Nehemiah, which we were looking at last week, it says in Nehemiah 1:1, …in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes reign.

This is actually 70 years after the temple is finished, near 445 BC when King Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city.

Now, I don’t know why they put these books in this order, but when we get to the book of Esther it says in Esther 1:1, / / These events happened in the days of King Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.

Xerxes, or your bible might say Ahasuerus, which was another name for Xerxes, reigned over Persia from 486-464 BC - smack dab in the middle of Ezra and Nehemiah. Not after. This is why it can be a bit confusing.

But why I want to look at the book of Esther this morning is because last week we talked about the fact that God can work in and through us in a variety of situations and we have to be prepared to follow His leading at the right time. But I would say one of the most difficult things we encounter in wanting to follow God is waiting for God.

One of the biggest struggles we have as followers of Jesus is simply being faithful in the promise when nothing exciting is happening. What happens when life isn’t full of new and exciting things? When happens when God seems silent? What happens when what we feel like God said he would do is taking longer than we want for him to do it?

Nehemiah had a good approach, and we saw this last week as we looked at 4 points for Nehemiah’s preparation. If you remember, in reading from Nehemiah 1:1 it says, / / In late autumn… is when brother Hanani comes back from Jersualem and tells him what rough shape it’s in. Then in Nehemiah 2:1 it says, / / Early in the following Spring… is when Nehemiah looks sad and the King asks him what’s going on which sets in motion his journey back to Jerusalem. This was about 4 months from the time he got the report from Hanani.

Four months isn’t a long time. But honestly, let me ask you this. When was the last time you faithfully and truly prayed four months straight, every day, for something? Not a judgement, but an encouragement. Just like Nehemiah. Remember the four steps of preparation he had:

/ / Nehemiah Prayed

He prayed for Israel. He prayed for opportunity. He prayed for his people.

/ / Nehemiah Served Well

He was clearly a good servant to the king. The king, upon seeing that Nehemiah was sad, asked why, and then asked how he could help and then gave him everything he needed to get the job done.

/ / Nehemiah Spoke Up

This one ties closely into the last point but first, we have to be willing to speak up.

Praying God gives us opportunity should sit right next to praying God gives us courage and boldness to speak when the time comes!

/ / Nehemiah Was Prepared

Maybe I should have switched point 3 and 4 here, but Nehemiah knew exactly what he wanted and needed. He didn’t just answer the King and say, “I’m sad because Jerusalem’s walls are in ruins”. And when the King turns and says, “How can I help?” A lot of people would look at their leader and say, “Do something about it...”

This is probably a frustration of every leader that has ever lived. People come to them with problems hoping the leader will fix them, and what a leader truly wants to do is empower people who come to them with solutions.

The King asks Nehemiah what he wants and Nehemiah is fully prepared.

I said last week, I know in my life there have been times where I didn’t have the answer when someone asked how they could help and that moment was unfortunately wasted because of my own lack of preparation.

Can we be faithful like Nehemiah in the process of waiting?

Now, like I said, four months is enough, but not too long, is it. What if it takes longer?

Esther’s story is a bit different:

Xerxes, or Ahasuerus is king and Esther 1:3-4 says, / / In the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. He invited all the military officers of Persia and Media as well as the princes and the nobles of the provinces. The celebration lasted 180 days - a tremendous display of the opulent wealth of his empire and the pomp and splendor of his majesty.

Ok, so we read that for some context and some timing. First, this king is throwing this massive party, showing off his wealth and his power. And I was reading a commentary on this the other day and it said the reason he would have been doing this, and to such extravagance, would have been to show that he had enough wealth and power to get through their next military campaign.

He was showing everyone that not only was he rich and powerful, but that he had enough money and enough soldiers to make another conquest and conquer another piece of land so that he would be even richer, and more powerful.

And the second thing to note is the timing, it’s the third year of his reign. That will be important in a bit.

Ok, the story goes on. His wife, Queen Vashti, also throws a party for all of the women in the royal palace. It’s not so hard to think that at that time the women were not invited unless they were summoned for some particular reason.

Well, that’s exactly what happens. Esther 1:10-11 says, / / On the seventh day of the feast, when Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine, he told the seven eunuchs who attended him… to bring Queen Vasthi to him with the royal crown on her head. He wanted the nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very beautiful woman.

So, do you see what’s happening here? He’s showing off the wealth that he has obtained. He’s showing off the power that he has. And now he wants to show off his beautiful wife, like some prize.

Marriage tip… I know this is more than 2500 years ago, but can anyone say that women have ever wanted to be treated like this?

Add to it, he’s drunk.

So, his servants go to Queen Vashti and let her know, “Hey, Xerxes wants ya to get fancy and go parade in front of his military buddies...”

Well, I could’ve told Xerxes this wasn’t going to end well. She says no. She refuses to go. But, that’s not the greatest of responses in this time with the king of the largest empire that’s ever existed. He gets pretty upset. Remember, he’s also drunk. He turns to his advisors and says, “What penalty does the law provide for a queen who refuses to obey the king’s orders?”

And one of his advisors steps up and says, “You know what’s going to happen, right? Every other wife in the entire kingdom is going to start thinking they can just refuse whatever their husbands tell them to do. So, here’s what you need to do, write an official decree, a new law that cannot be revoked, to order that Queen Vashti be forever banished from the presence of the King and then choose another queen that’s more worthy. Then send it all over the kingdom, so wives know to stay in line.”

I mean, you can’t make this stuff up.

Esther 1:21-22, / / The king and his nobles thought this made good sense… He sent letters to all parts of the empire, to each province in its own script and language, proclaiming that every man should be the ruler of his own home and should say whatever he pleases.

Ok, so that’s the background.

Chapter 2 of the book of Esther says that eventually Xerxes isn’t angry anymore and he starts thinking about Vashti. I guess it was a hard breakup, maybe. And his personal attendants say, “We have an idea. We have a pretty big empire. Let’s go find all the beautiful young virgins in the land and we’ll bring them to you so you can pick a new queen”

Now, you might think, “Who wants to be this guys queen after that, and how is this important to the bible, and what on earth is it going to have to do with us?”

Two things:

First, we’ve already seen through other stories, as we will see through this one, that / / God can work through the strangest of circumstances and the most ungodly of people.

Second, / / with God’s leading, and in God’s timing, he can work in and through you to accomplish his purposes.

Well, there’s a Jewish man named Mordecai, and he had adopted a cousin of his, named Esther, when her parents had died. And Esther was a beautiful young woman. But, she’s also an exiled Jew. And it’s assumed that this wouldn’t have been a good thing. She’s not necessarily what they are looking for - as the story goes on you see how the Jews were looked down on.

And one of the strange things about the book of Esther is that God is not mentioned at all. Not even once. And yet, you see the hand of God working through the whole thing.

So, Mordecai tells Esther to not mention her nationality. Esther is taken in this giant gathering of women. Mordecai goes by the place where they are being kept every day to make sure she’s ok. We see his concern for her like a father loves a daughter.

Now the process for this was not a quick beauty pageant to pick a winner. It’s a very long process.

Esther is brought into the care of the kings servants and for 12 months, on top of however long the process has already been leading up to this, she’s stuck in this world. For the first six months she’s going through beauty treatments with oil of myrrh, and then another six months with special perfumes and ointments. I mean, they want you smelling some kind of special for the king.

Then, she’s in line waiting for however long to be called to go spend time with the king. Now, this is not a godly christian romance, ok, we will not pull anything from this story on how to have a good relationship. Basically, the King had banished Vashti, gone out to conquer Greece, failed miserably and then comes home sad. He starts thinking about Vashti, and then this plan to find a new wife is brought up, but it’s basically this. We will find all the beautiful young women in the entire empire, we’ll bring one of them every night to your bedroom until you find the perfect one.

So, Esther is in line waiting... Esther 2:16-17 finally says, / / “Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in early winter of the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti.”

The whole story of Esther is a pretty fascinating story, and if you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so. We’re going through just snipits of it today and going pretty quick. But the story goes on. Esther is now queen.

The story goes on and there’s a plot to kill the king, but Mordecai, Esther’s adopted father foils the plans by giving the information to Esther who relays that to the king.

Then the story starts to take a dark turn.

There’s a man named Haman, he’s one of the king’s nobles, and he’s been promoted above all the other nobles. And he’s just absolutely full of himself, and he goes around town, and people bow down to him.

But Mordecai doesn’t. He’s unwilling to bow down to Haman. And this sends Haman into an absolute rage. So much so that he decides it’s not enough to just get rid of Mordecai, he’s going to get rid of all of his people. Mordecai had told people that he was a Jew, and so Haman decides he’s going to wipe out all the Jews.

Esther 3:7 says, / / So in the month of April, during the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ reign, lots were cast in Haman’s presence to determine the best day and month to take action. And the day selected was March 7, nearly a year later.

Now, this right here is the point of why we are looking at all of this today. It’s super simple, but I think it’s so timely for this moment we live in. It’s a reminder of how we process and focus our lives.

Look at how this has all played out to this point:

In the third year of Xerxes reign he has a party, Vashti gets banished.

In the seventh year of Xerxes reign Esther, having gone through months and months of preparation and being held from her own family and people, is brought to the king and made the new queen.

In the twelfth year a plot is brought forward to kill every Jew in the entire Persian Empire.

The story to this point is 9 years in the making, and Esther has been in the king’s palace for 5 years probably wondering everyday why she is there. I can’t imagine what she’s gone through. I can’t imagine what that world and what that scenario is like. I think sometimes when we read the bible we have these rose colored glasses that blind us from the horrors contained in the pages. Yes, it’s the word of God. Yes, it’s full of grace and mercy and truth. But it’s also full of the worst of humanity.

Five years she’s been in this position of being the queen of King Xerxes. And all this time she’s never once mentioned she’s a Jew, and everyone knows that Mordecai is a Jew, which means she’s not been able to have real contact with her family in 5 years or they would know she’s a Jew.

Everything has to be done in secret.

And because the king doesn’t know that his queen is a Jew, when Haman comes to him and says in Esther 3:8-9, / / “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.”

Notice what happens there. The King has already shown in this story that he’s a sucker for more wealth. So Haman makes sure he’s making this an enticing deal.

The King has zero reason to say no. People don’t obey his law, he’s getting more money, ok, I’m in.

The decree goes out. Every Jewish person, young and old, women and children, MUST BE killed, slaughtered and annihilated on a single day, March 7th of next year. And whoever kills the Jews gets to keep their property.

Mordecai sends a note to Esther and says, this is going to include you. They will find out. And maybe somehow God will deliver the Jews, but you and all your relatives and all of the Jews in this kingdom will die. And then probably the most quoted scripture from this story - Esther 4:14 says, / / “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

Now, we can look at this story probably a million different ways. But what I felt as I was reading this story this past week was the difference between waiting on God and making it happen ourselves.

There are two different types of people in this story.

Xerxes gets what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. No one says no. He does what he wants, takes what he wants and doesn’t wait to see how it will effect anyone else. He doesn’t care.

Esther has to wait. She feels like she has no power. She’s stuck. What can she do but wait for some sort of purpose to all she’s gone through?

Haman wants what the king has. He wants power, he wants to be respected. He’s willing to kill to get it.

Mordecai keeps telling Esther, don’t say who you are. Be patient. Don’t tell them you’re a Jew.

We have / / waiting, and we have wanting.

I got an email this week from the head of Kaylee’s school, Dr Jason Harrison. It was a simple welcome to the new school year email. But man, was it right on point in regards to what I had already been feeling and working on for this Sunday.

He wrote this:

In 1972, Access credit cards released an advertisement that stated, / / “Take the wait out of wanting!” While that was a very long time ago, the message seems to be the mantra of our entire culture. Not only does our current culture want immediate results - we also want immediate consequences when immediate results do not occur.

Conversely, almost 116 times in the Bible scripture references the concept of / / “waiting upon the Lord.”

He goes on to say that waiting on the Lord is fully acknowledging that God’s timing is better than our own. In fact, ours is often very flawed.

He says that waiting shows strength of faith.

It’s opportunity to hold onto the hope of God’s promise.

It allows God to work in us and around us to resolve the situation, and not just relying on human solutions.

Waiting on the Lord means to stop stressing and stop forcing things that don’t need to be forced.

And he finished the email with Psalm 27:14, / / Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

In a world that wants microwave results, fast solutions, the ending of any trial or struggle immediately, we have to take a step back and say, “Where is God in the story?”

Are we like Xerxes willing to do whatever it takes to be satisfied in our own life, even at the expense of our morals and how it will effect others?

Are we like Esther, maybe not even knowing why we are where we are, but waiting patiently in hopes for the salvation of God, and when the opportunity comes to act, we see it for what it is and step up and act.

See, this is the end of the story. After 5 years of living in the King’s palace, this plot to kill all of her people, which would have included her own life, leaves Esther with a big decision to make. Does she reveal that she is a Jew, and potentially just be thrown to the wolves and killed with the rest of her people. Or does she continue to hide, and hopefully no one will know, but she will lose all of her family and people.

When Mordecai says to her, “Maybe it’s just this very reason that you are queen”, she has to ask, “Do I believe God would do this through me?”

You ever have a moment where you feel like you’re supposed to do something, and you think, “Is this God directing this? I feel like I am supposed to ....” (say something, do something…), “But what if it’s not God? What if I fail? What if they reject me, punish me, push me away?”

Listen, just as much as it is important to recognize when we are being Xerxes, the one with the problems, the one trying to make life happen in our own strength. We also have to recognize when God is saying, “I’m with you, and I’ve called you for this very purpose to be in the position you are in so that I can work in and through you to produce the purposes I have.”

So, what does Esther do? Well, you don’t just get to run into the King’s throne room and ask whatever you want. So she has to be delicate about it. She dresses up, and goes and hangs out in the king’s courtyard, just outside of his throne room and he sees her and calls her in and says, “What can I do for you?”

She says, “If it pleases you, I’ve prepared a banquet for you and Haman.”

So they have dinner. And at the end Xerxes says to Esther, “What do you want? I’ll give you anything up to half the kingdom.”

She replies, “Let’s do this again tomorrow. Dinner with me, you and Haman, and then I’ll explain.”

Done deal. Well, Haman is just super excited. Two nights in a row dinner with the King and Queen! He goes home and boasts to all his friends and family. But he’s so twisted about his feud with Mordecai that he says, “But this is all worth nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew just sitting there at the palace gate.”

And his wife says to him in Esther 5:14 / / “Set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it.”

Well, I think by a bit of divine providence here, and that simply means God was God in a moment that needed God. Xerxes can’t sleep that night, and in his pride he asks his servants to bring the book of his history to read it to him. “Ugh, I can’t sleep. Quick, someone tell me how amazing I’ve been...”

The story they turn to is the story of Mordecai foiling the plot to assassinate the king. And he asks, “Did we ever give that guy anything?”. They say no.

So the next morning, Haman comes in to ask the king to kill Mordecai, but before he can ask that, the king says, “Hey, what should I do if I really want to honor someone that has really pleased me?”

Haman thinks the king talking about him. So he tells the king all the things he should do to him. And after that the king says, “Excellent! Quick! Do all of that for Mordecai the Jew. Leave out nothing you have suggested.”

So Haman, who wanted to kill Mordecai and impale him on a 75 ft pole, instead has to put him on a horse, and parade him around town shouting, “This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!”

He’s absolutely destroyed, and goes home, and then the King’s men show up and say, “Ready for dinner?”

So he goes to dinner, and while at dinner the king asks Esther again, “What would you like? Up to half the kingdom, I’ll do whatever you ask.”

Esther 7:3-4 says, / / Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”

Notice she doesn’t mention which people group, just “her” people group.

The king says, “Who would do this? Who would dare touch you?”

And Esther replies, “This guy, Haman. He’s our enemy.”

Oh man, it all comes to light. Esther is a Jew. Haman grows really pale.

The King gets so upset he leaves the room. When he comes back Haman is on Esthers couch begging her, but the king thinks he’s trying to attack her. One of the king’s servants says, “Haman set up a pole in his own courtyard. He had wanted to have Mordecai killed, remember, the guy who saved your life.”

The king instead has Haman impaled on the pole that he set up in his own front yard.

This story finishes in an interesting way. Like this isn’t all interesting enough, right?

The decree has already been set. March 7th of next year it’s open season on the Jewish people. Anyone can kill the Jews and take their belongings as their own. The king can’t change that decree or he would be breaking his own laws.

So, he gives Esther the property of Haman, and she tells Mordecai to live there. The King gives Mordecai his signet ring, which means anything he decrees would be in the name of the king. And the king says, “Listen, we can’t change what I’ve already said, but use my signet ring and say whatever you want as a decree and it will have my name on it by that ring.”

So Mordecai makes a very simple, but very powerful decree in the name of the King.

Esther 8:11 says, / / The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city authority to unite to defend their lives. They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies.

All they did was put into their own hands the power to save themselves. If you attack us, we can attack you.

This is a story 9 years in the making… And yes, it’s a complex story. And I’m not advocating we all go out and fight our enemies. But within the story there is an important question about where we are at and what God wants to do in and through us.

And I would again use the words of Dr Harrison this morning, / / “Are we Waiting or Wanting?”

Esther is a great example of allowing her life to be ruled by waiting on God.

Xerxes and Haman are great examples of being ruled by our own wanting.

And this can be especially difficult in the face of others prospering around us - man, today we see it all the time, we are surrounded by what other people post about their lives. Things going better for them. It’s a constant trap to feel like we have less than or a worse situation. The sad part is most of it isn’t true, and it’s not real success or prosperity.

I’ll finish with this thought from Psalm 37:7, David writing about being in that kind of situation. He says, / / Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.

The story of Esther is a story of waiting patiently for the Lord. In the midst of seeing things happen around you that you don’t want, can’t explain or don’t know how to process. Wait patiently for the Lord.

We need to encourage ourselves from the lives of Nehemiah and Esther.

As long as it takes, we will be faithful.

As long as it takes, we will pray and believe.

As long as it takes, we will serve the Lord.

And if and when the time comes, may God help us see the opportunity at hand and give us the courage to act!

As I was preparing this morning I really felt like there are people here who have been waiting a long time. Waiting for something, and you might not even be able to put to words what you’re waiting for, but you know your situation isn’t what you want and you wish it was different. You feel like Esther. Married to the world but your heart is with God.

And you feel tired. Tired of waiting because the world around you and even the church has been telling you it should have changed by now. I even feel like some have told you that it can’t be God because it’s taking this long. If it was God it would’ve happened by now.

I feel like there are those who have questioned their faith because of these long hard years of waiting. And if you’re arguing in your head right now, “He’s talking to someone else, it’s not me.” Then it’s probably you… And I don’t think this is for just one person. I feel like this probably hits all of us in some sort of way.

Waiting is one of the hardest things in the world and as the world seems to move faster, it seems even harder.

For five years Esther was in a palace of a foreign king, probably asking, “Why?”, until the day Mordecai asked her, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

I want to close with Psalm 27:14 again, and then I want to pray for you, / / Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.