Flying Blind

Esther 4:6–14 NIV

So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

We live in a time when drones and rockets and missiles fly entirely on instruments. More and more, airplanes depend on instruments to fly as well. Every now and then a story pops up of a pilot who temporarily loses instruments in the cockpit. The plane is still flying and the engines are still working, but there is a moment of flying blind because all the readouts on the instrument panel go dead.

It wasn’t always this way. The very first airplanes had no instrument panels at all. In fact, the small planes developed and used in the first world war had no instruments tracking things like airspeed or altitude or direction. A pilot flying in clouds had no idea where the plane was going. Since there was no such thing as a gyroscope, WWI pilots lost in the clouds had no idea if they were even level with the ground.

It was actually a handful of British scientists who developed the first airplane instruments between 1912 and 1920. Until that point, pilots depended entirely upon their surroundings to fly an airplane. The rest is now history as pilots today seem to depend almost entirely on instruments to fly an airplane. We depend on those instruments for things like speed, bearing, altitude, position. Without that information, we’re flying blind.

Last week I started this series on faithful living. Of all the things that God might possibly be calling us to do and to be as Christians, the underlining factor is one of faithfulness. Because God has always been faithful to me, my response of gratitude is to strive to live a life that is faithful to God. That all sounds great, but it pretty quickly runs us into thick fog in which we all start asking the question, what does this life of faithfulness look like? I especially ask that question in times when it seems like my life is flying blind; when it seems like I have no idea where life is going; when it seems like I cannot see God at work in my life and I am not sure what a faithful response to God should be.

When God seems hidden

The story of Esther is the story of a hidden God. In so many other parts of the Bible God obviously shows up. God speaks; God acts; God gives direction. He speaks directly, or through a prophet. He acts directly, or gives specific instruction for how to act and what to do. The authors of the Bible clue us in and tell us what God is doing behind the scenes. But Esther has none of that. In fact, we could read through the entire story of Esther and wonder if God even shows up at all because the author makes no mention of it. Any activity by God in the story of Esther is activity that the reader must assume God is doing. We have to be the ones to insert God into the story and we have to be the ones who do the work of figuring out how and where God shows up in Esther.

story of Esther shows no direct activity of God

This story makes a pretty good snapshot for us to consider today. Because let’s be honest, we live in a world today in which the activity of God goes largely unnoticed. For anyone who says that God does not exist because there is no direct evidence of his activity in the world, I give you the story of Esther.

background | queen of Persian empire - plot of Haman - Mordecai’s plea to Esther

Here’s a little background. Esther was the Jewish girl who essentially won a beauty pageant to become queen of Persia by marrying the emperor Xerxes. It is during the time of Israelite exile. Likely these events take place before Ezra and Nehemiah begin resettling the land of Israel and rebuilding Jerusalem. And the writing of Esther certainly seems to take place before the fall of the Persian empire to Greece in 331BC.

During this time when the Jewish people are dispersed in exile all throughout Persia, there arises a plot by Haman, one of the emperor’s top officials, to have all the of the Jews in the empire killed. Mordecai, who is the cousin of Esther, discovers this plot being put together by Haman. And what we read today from chapter four is the interaction communicated between Mordecai and Esther. Mordecai is pleading with Esther to use her position as queen intervene on behalf of the Jewish people and have the emperor put a stop to Haman’s plan.

There’s a catch. The queen cannot simply just go before Xerxes and make this request. In fact, she cannot go before Xerxes at all unless she is specifically summoned to appear. No one except for a very select few individuals are ever allowed to come before the emperor uninvited. There had to be an official request for invitation to be extended first. It was such a serious crime to appear uninvited before Xerxes that it was a capital offence punishable by execution. In short, the emperor could have Esther killed if she follows Mordecai’s request to go before Xerxes.

moment of choice:

And God is still nowhere to be seen in this story. What assurances does Esther have? What kind of direction from God is Esther given? What does it mean for Esther to live a life that is faithful to God in this moment? This is the moment in the story that I want us to stop and capture for a few moments today. Because this is the moment of real life that challenges all people of God at some point. Of course, we are not queens in the household of an emperor. We do not face plots of complete ethnic annihilation. But we do face moments of choice when it may not be immediately clear what a life faithful to God looks like. And it doesn’t help us when those moments pop up in times when we are flying blind—when it feels like God is nowhere to be seen.

So, what can we learn from Esther about what to do in moments when God seems hidden? How do we live faithful to God in times when it seems like we are flying blind?

Take a little bit closer look at the choice which confronts Esther in this story. On one level, it is a choice of identity. Esther must decide who she really is. Esther is the queen of a pagan regime. But she is also a part of the lineage of Jewish people. Up to this point in the story, Esther has kept her Jewish heritage a secret. The moment of faithfulness is a moment when Esther must consider claiming and standing up for the identity she has in God. It’s personal. She would not simply go before Xerxes and say, tell Haman to leave these Jews alone. She would reveal her own identity as one of those people.

faithfulness to God begins in owning the identity I have in God

Faithfulness to God begins in owning the identity we have in God. And as we see in the story of Esther, sometimes standing up for that Identity we have in God is not always easy. Sometimes we have to intentionally remind ourselves of that identity in Jesus. Sometimes that identity can become quickly lost or hidden.

Esther reminds us today that even in times when we might not always see God actively working around every single corner of our lives, you and I still claim an identity in Jesus which holds our lives faithfully in God.

I am a broken sinner redeemed by grace because I am loved by God as one of his own

My identity in Jesus is this: I am a broken sinner redeemed by grace because I am loved by God as one of his own.

Don’t let that identity get lost. Don’t let that identity become hidden. A life faithful to God always comes back to find its place in the assurance of this identity. Your identity in Jesus is never because of who you are or what you have done. You didn’t earn any points by your great moral behavior to get this badge. And you can’t ever be so distant and so sinful and so worthless that God’s grace isn’t enough. Your identity in God is not tied to how good you are. Your identity in God is not ruined by how broken you are.

Living faithfully to God begins by choosing to hold tightly to the identity I have been given in Christ. I am redeemed by grace because I am loved by God as one of his own. I choose to hold tightly to that identity in Christ even in times when God seems hidden. Esther’s life of faith faced a choice to know and claim who she really is. Our lives of faith face that choice as well.

Who knows?

Here’s the next thing we see in the story of Esther. Even doing the right thing left Esther unsure of the outcome. Mordecai does not make any assurances to Esther. Mordecai does not say to Esther, I assure you that you have come to royal position for such a time as this. He leaves it as a question because the outcome is unsure. Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Who knows?

Esther has no assurance of the outcome

The question from Mordecai simply acknowledges this. I have no control over when and where God shows up. I am not the one who gets to decide what God will and will not do. I am not the one who makes an agenda of activity for God to be doing. In the story of Esther, God appears to be hidden. Mordecai asks an honest question that I think we all need to acknowledge and ask from time-to-time. Who knows? Who knows the reason why God has arranged and allowed the things of my life and my world to go the way it has? It is an honest and refreshing confession before God. It is a confession that says, God, I am not always sure what it is you are up to.

I do not control the activity of God

As a pastor, people often come to me and ask those questions. People want to know where God is showing up in their lives. People want to know what God is up to. I find comfort in Mordecai’s answer because it is often the answer I have to give as well. Who knows?

can I still be faithful to God even when I do not have all the answers?

But listen now, because here’s the point. The issue is not whether I know and discern the activity of God in every and all circumstances. The issue is if I will be faithful to God in my life even in those times—especially in those times—when I do not know and discern the activity of God in every and all circumstances. Can I still be faithful to God even when a giant ‘who knows?’ question is hanging above whatever it is I am facing? Can I still be faithful to God even when I do not have all the answers and cannot be assured of all the outcomes?

John 21 | feed my sheep | no control of outcome

At the end of John’s gospel—after the resurrection—there is a breakfast scene where Jesus pulls Peter aside and renews the commission of Peter’s task. Jesus asks Peter, do you love me? Peter responds, Lord you know I love you. Jesus replies, feed my sheep. And then Jesus goes on to say “Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Peter does not know where his life is going to go or what is going to happen next. Peter has no control over these events. But it does not matter because Peter can still be faithful to God anyway. The only thing Jesus asked Peter to do in order to be faithful is just feed sheep. Tend and nurture the flock of people I am entrusting in your life to your care. Peter turns and motions towards the disciple John, what about him? Jesus says, what is that to you? faithfully following Jesus is not about nailing down and controlling every little thing that will take place in your life or in the lives of others. Peter didn’t need to know or control those things in order to be faithful to God and feed the sheep of Jesus.

who I am in Jesus changes how I see

myself

the world

other people

So you live in a world where the actions of God sometimes appear to be hidden. So you live in a world where the circumstances of life leave us with questions – who knows? But because you are a person who has been redeemed by grace because God loves you as his own—because of that—you can be a person who has a life that is faithful to God. Because a life faithful to God is not about controlling the outcome, it is about choosing to accept the identity I have been given by God through Jesus.