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Esther 6 March 14, 2021 Background: Esther Is a Book That Does Not

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Esther 6 March 14, 2021 Background: Esther Is a Book That Does Not Esther 6 March 14, 2021 Background: Esther is a book that does not mention God a single time, and yet, the reality of God’s providence is obvious front to back. God is sovereign in the big things at the beginning, and at the end. But here in this chapter we see a different kind of God’s sovereignty. His hand in the details, the seemingly insignificant. This is the hinge point in the book upon which it turns. And the event is about as insignificant an event as you could imagine. Somebody has insomnia. There’s no massive war, no struggle for the throne, no big event at all! Beneath all of what’s going on, we see the hand of the sovereign LORD. This sermon series is called “The God who is There” exactly because we see God’s hand in every detail of this story, even if the author never mentions his name. I used to work for a window company. I won’t say which one. But we manufactured the windows from start to finish. I worked in the paint department, although I moved around when the need arose. But my main job was to bring long pieces of window frame into a large paint booth and spray them with paint. They would later get cut and put together and the glass would go in and then we put screens in them and wrap them up and shim them out. Well at any point along the assembly of these windows things can go wrong. And we used to have a saying, and it was “don’t worry, it’s a commercial job”. What that meant was that the order was placed by a contractor who was putting in the windows into some kind of big business building. Now that’s different than an order placed by a homebuilder who is putting them in his own house. You know what the difference was? The homeowner cared a whole lot more than the contractor who was putting them into somebody else’s building. So the saying “don’t worry, it’s a commercial job” meant that, if there were details in the windows that were not perfect, who cares, they probably won’t complain. You could get away with a lot more mistakes and cut corners on a commercial job because they typically didn’t care about the details. Now, had I been a more godly man back then my response should have been “actually, this job belongs to the LORD, and he cares about the details”. Our God is a God who cares about the details. Not only does he care about the details, but he providentially causes all things, details included, to work out for his glory. Remember that this chapter falls in the middle of a larger than life story that shows God’s sovereignty over entire nations. Remember that God caused Vashti to stand up against Xerxes, and out of all the women of the provinces of Xerxes kingdom, Esther was found to be the most desirable to Xerxes. And we’re going to see that God’s hand of protection was on the hand of his people throughout the whole Persian Empire. So in those chapters it’s obvious that God is the God over the big stuff, but this chapter right in the middle focuses down on really a few people, on a single night, in events that are seemingly insignificant. It is the joy of the believer to recognize and partner with the providence of God. 1. God is sovereign over every detail of life, and he’s accomplishing something with those details. (Verses 1-5) Esther 6 March 14, 2021 The opening verses of this chapter, we are met with a number of small, seemingly insignificant events. A king who can’t sleep; a book of records opened to exactly the right page; a good deed left unrewarded; a man in the right place at the right time to give some ironic advice. When we think of God’s providence, we tend to think of it as grand and overarching. It is, but these verses clearly show us that God’s providence is just as powerfully displayed in the mundane, the ordinary, and the small details. If God is sovereign over every detail, and he providentially ordains them. Then it must be true that the everyday happenings of our lives has significance. Its’ not just the big things and big decisions in life that are of importance, it’s all of the things we do. This is true only by the very fact that it is God who does the ordaining. Let’s put it this this way. Can God make mistakes? Nope. Can God do anything half-hazard or sub-par? Nope. God always works, to the utmost of his ability, strength, wisdom, love, justice, and we could go on. So if that’s the case, then even the minute details of life, the things that we think are insignificant are actually meaningful and God is doing something with them. Now if that’s the case, then we have to come to the conclusion that God is accomplishing something with whatever situation you are in right now in life. It means that God uses the normal circumstances of our lives to accomplish his tasks. There is no miracle in this chapter. There is no parting of a sea or angel army or raising of the dead. God’s providence happens in the “normal”. What a glorious thought that God uses the normal for his glory. [One of my favourite books that I have read a handful of times and I plan on reading it again is short little biography of a pastor named Tom Carson. Tom was a church planter and pastor in Quebec in the mid 1900’s. The whole point of this book was the Tom was ordinary. He never pastored a mega church. He never preached to hundreds or thousands. He never wrote a book. To our standards we was nothing extraordinary. But God used the normal workings of this man’s life to save souls, and grow up Christians in their faith. He had kids, whom he and his wife just faithfully preached the gospel to. One of his sons, Don Carson, grew up to become a very influential preacher/pastor/biblical scholar/theologian who has greatly influenced my faith in Christ and many others.] How glorious is it to know that God is provident over the normal things of our lives, to accomplish his tasks. It also means that our hardships and struggles are not insignificant, and they are not forgotten by the LORD. You don’t think Mordecai felt cheated back in chapter when he uncovered the conspiracy plot and saved the king’s life, and never got anything from it? Don’t you think it felt a little insignificant? I’ve talked to some of you even this week, who are going through painful seasons. And for every person I have talked to, there are a dozen more who I haven’t, and yet are enduring hardships of many kinds. Can I just say directly to you, those hardships matter. The God who causes sleep to flee from the king, to make him read a record, opened at the right page, at the right time, to make come to pass God’s will. This God is the same God who is providentially loves you. Esther 6 March 14, 2021 James writes in the opening of his letter “Consider it pure JOY my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Do you see that our hardships are put there by the Lord, for the purpose of molding us and forming us into the likeness of Jesus? That’s what it means to be mature and complete, not lacking anything does it not? So our pains and struggles are not insignificant or a waste, but God is using them to make us more like Jesus, and growing our excitement of one day being in his presence. And if that’s the goal of all that happens in the Christian’s life, then James can say with confidence “consider it pure JOY”. That only makes sense if the provident hand of our God is behind every detail of our lives. It is the joy of the believer to recognize and partner with the providence of God. But… 2. It is equally true that we chose actions that either glorify God or glorify ourselves. (verses 6-9) The king calls in Haman and asks Haman his advice as to what should be done for someone who the king wants to honour. Now there is no way that Haman has any idea that Xerxes means Mordecai. We have that information because we get the big picture and whole story. We can feel the great irony in this part almost to the point of being comical. Haman of course is blinded by pride and cannot fathom the idea that there is anyone else in all the world that the king wants to honour more than himself. So he muses at what he himself would love. Had he asked who it was for, he could have avoided this altogether. But you see, Haman is acting exactly according to his desires. His desires of course come from his prideful and narcissistic nature.
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