For Your Mercies’ Sake

Esther 3:8–13 NKJV

8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.” 12 Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.

Israel had been in scattered throughout the kingdom of Persia. Yet they retained their worship of God. They followed His ways, observing the Scriptures. God’s ways were different from the laws of the land and thus His people were different and stood out among the peoples.

And a man named Haman, a member of the king’s government, persuaded the king that they were a problem and a threat. He offered to pay to have them destroyed.

And the king listened to the words of the enemy of the Jews and had letters sent throughout his kingdom declaring a day of destruction and plunder of the people of God.

We don’t live in a kingdom but in a democratic republic, but there are some striking similarities between this story and the days we live in.

In some places, another way to identify Christians is to call them “People of the Book.” In other words, they live according to the Scriptures. The values, commands, and behaviors outlined in the word of God provide the basis for followers of God as they interact in the world. Christians live differently. They love differently. They follow God’s Laws.

And just like in Mordecai’s day, there are enemies of God’s people who would seek to silence, plunder, and otherwise destroy them. We see this globally in places like India where Hindus kill Christians. We see it in places in the Middle East where Christians are beheaded by Muslims, or in China where Christians are imprisoned. We see this attack in America where the current climate is increasingly hostile to Christian values and where pundits and politicians regularly seek to silence and marginalize anyone who believes in the God of the Bible.

Esther 4:1–3 NKJV

1 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

The response of Mordecai and those of God’s people who were alert to the cultural moment was to put on sackcloth and mourn. They cried out with a loud and bitter cry. They fasted. They wept.

It is interesting that no one was allowed to mourn or grieve in front of the king. No one could raise a complaint about the injustice they were experiencing. No one could acknowledge the pain they were going through, because it is not appropriate to do that before the king.

To a degree, this same mindset is entrenched in the world and even the church today. If you cry out in sorrow or grief or mourning, it makes people uncomfortable and they want to silence you.

If you draw attention to injustice, or unrighteousness, or wickedness you potentially draw the ire of others.

When Suffering Seems Wrong

To the people who were simply trying to live their lives, this declaration made no sense. They were, as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, aspiring to lead a quiet life, minding their won business, working with their own hands, walking properly toward those who were outside of their faith (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).

And then there was suddenly a national crisis.

Psalm 44 comes from a different season in Israel’s days (consider Psalms Book Two is thematically pre-Exile; context supports as well). Despite this, the Psalmists speak to suffering that doesn’t make sense.

The psalm begins by recognizing that they knew of their history with God. How He delivered His people and favored them and gave them the victory over their enemies. It wasn’t their effort, but God’s favor and the strength of His right hand that delivered them and enabled them to succeed even over their enemies (Psalm 44:1-8).

But then the story shifts. They begin to say that God has cast them off and because He didn’t go with them they were defeated by their enemy and those that hated them took spoils from them. They were given up and scattered and sold to the nations. They are a reproach and a scorn to those around them, a byword. People shake their head around them. And it is a constant source of shame (Psalm 44:9-16).

They protest that this has happened to them despite the fact they have not forgotten God. They have not backslidden nor broke covenant nor stopped walking in God’s ways (Psalm 44:17-19).

Then they begin to turn their complaint to God.

Psalm 44:20–26 NKJV

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god, 21 Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. 22 Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 23 Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. 24 Why do You hide Your face, And forget our affliction and our oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; Our body clings to the ground. 26 Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

They say, “God you see the truth. We follow You. We love you. And yet we are suffering for Your sake. And it feels like you don’t care. It feels like we are destined to die like sheep or worse, we were predestined to die for You.”

“Why are you sleeping? Why are you letting this happen? Why aren’t you acknowledging our affliction and oppression?”

Can you feel the pain in their words? Can you relate to their story?

They are enduring affliction, sorrow, oppression seemingly for no reason. Not because they sinned. Not because they were disobedient to God.

Have you ever felt this way? That if you weren’t a Christian that you wouldn’t be struggling like you do? You used to sin without guilt and shame. Maybe you used to cut corners and lie and cheat to get away and get ahead.

But since you stopped, life has gotten harder.

Maybe you look at how the politicians or this group or that group are coming at you for your beliefs when you have done nothing but try to live a quiet and peaceable life.

Maybe you see, and not just see but feel, the weight of the brokenness and injustice and oppression in society.

Maybe you carry the burden for those who are being trafficked.

Maybe you look at the way the world seems to be falling apart due to poor stewardship of its resources and seem like there is no answer nor hope.

Maybe you feel the weight of the unborn child in the womb or the multitudes of fatherless orphans.

Maybe you have experienced the loss of loved ones, even godly ones, to things like the virus or tragedy.

Maybe you are feeling the pressure from employers and government to submit or be fired due to something you believe.

Sometimes, it is just hard to make sense of suffering. And since there is no sackcloth in the presence of the king, we suffer quietly, alone. And the pain and the pressure builds.

Making Sense of Suffering

But you were never meant to suffer alone. You weren’t meant to carry those burdens that seem so great that they feel like they are destined to break you.

Jesus forewarned us that in this world we would face trouble but that through Him we have overcome the world (John 16:33).

As humans we will face trouble in this world.

As Christians, we will enter into another level of suffering.

Romans 8:16–17 NKJV

16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

The following verses in Romans makes it clear that creation itself groans for deliverance from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:21-22). And we, as Christ followers, groan within ourselves (Romans 8:23). And we bring those things before the Lord in prayer, with the help of the Spirit who makes intercession for us with groanings (Romans 8:26).

In other words, we express the suffering of others on their behalf.

Romans 12:15 NKJV

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

We are commanded to weep and mourn and bear the burdens of others, even when things don’t make sense (cf. Galatians 6:2).

Romans 8:31–39 NKJV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul acknowledges this suffering for righteousness sake. He acknowledges suffering which doesn’t make sense (notice the quote of Psalm 44:22).

He lingers here, but expects his readers to know how that Psalm ends:

Psalm 44:26 NKJV

26 Arise for our help, And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

And then he says, despite these things, we are more than conquerors. We will triumph in God’s love. This grief will pass. These sorrows will pass. God will redeem them and nothing will be able to keep us from God’s love no matter how things look nor how they feel.

Conclusion

Jesus was a man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief…despised, rejected, treated unfairly and unjustly (Isaiah 53:3). He knows extreme grief and loss. He knows us.

He took the way of the Cross, experiencing death and was raised into the glory of God. We too pass through the valley of the shadow of death and we will share in the glory of the Father as we eat at the table of the Lord.

Sorrow and suffering are not the final word when it comes to faith. But there are moments where they are the right word for the moment.

Prompt: It’s not a lack of faith if you are burdened by sorrow and suffering. It is part of the crucified life.