The story of Esther is a story of what my friend David Platt calls “Cosmic Coincidences.” There are so many things that seemingly “just so happened.” Looking at those things, it is clear that God is in control. Like He placed Esther where she was, God has placed you where you are. We have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. Everyone has a part to play and God wants to honor those who are faithful.
The Ask
In Esther 7:1-4, Esther finally asks the King what she’s been waiting to ask. We can learn from these verses. We see the word “feast.” People love to eat! It’s social. There is a time to fast, but there is a time to feast! Eat meals together. Have conversation. Get off your phone! Ask questions. In addition to food, feast every day on the Word of God. Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4). We also read the King was willing to give Esther half the kingdom. Are you willing to give your wife half the ballgame? Halftime? Do you complain every time she spends money? This is the second day, the second banquet. God does not always answer the first time. You don’t always succeed the first time. Try again! Jesus said to ask, seek, and knock. Keep on asking, seeking, knocking! What for? Like Esther, “Spare my life and spare my people” (v.3). Have you asked the Lord to save you? Are you asking God to save your spouse and children? Pray for your family and loved ones to be saved. In verse 4 Esther tells the King that she had been sold. (In chapter 3 Haman promised to pay 375 tons of silver to the royal treasury.) The King had signed the death warrant for his own wife and did not know it. How many men are killing their own wife and children, and don’t even know it? You don’t know their friends or struggles. Stop and take the time to listen carefully and ask questions. Finally, what is your speech like? Esther waited till the right moment. She was bold, calm, respectful and persuasive. Esther let her words be few and we would be wise to do the same.
The Adversary
Esther tells the King that the enemy was Haman (v.5-6). He did not have a clue! Most Christians don’t have a clue. You have an enemy. “Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith!” (1 Pet. 5:8-9). The devil is one angel. He is not omnipresent. He works through the angels, the demons that followed him, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world (1 Jn 4:4). Put on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6) and resist him. An umbrella does not stop the rain. It stops the rain from stopping you! Put on Jesus. The victory is in Jesus.
The Anger
The King was angry when he found out this news! But, even he controlled it. Verse 7 tells us he walked away. Anger is a God-given emotion. There are times for righteous anger. However, most times when we are angry, it is not righteous. If you struggle with anger, confront, consider, control, confess, and channel it. You can read more on anger here (link to Sept. 26 post on Proverbs on Anger).
The Answer
In the end, Haman was killed on the gallows he built to kill Mordecai. Tony Evans said, “Providence is the Hand of God in the glove of history.” There are times in life when you are in a fog. You don’t know what to do. Cry out to God. Seek Him even more than seeking an answer! He is the answer! Your boss, mate, parents, health, even YOU do not have the last word. There are times when God is silent, but in the end, God has the last word. This story also reminds us that we reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow. It applies to believers and unbelievers alike (Gal. 6:7).
The end of the story is not “…and Haman lived happily ever after.” Death is real. Hell is real. God is a just God. We talk about social justice or poetic justice, but in the end, there is divine justice. God will settle every score and make every wrong right. The scales of divine justice always balance, if not here, in the hereafter. There is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Will you go where Haman went or where Esther and Mordecai went? Haman deserved to die. You and I deserve to die. Jesus died in our place. Have you trusted Him for your salvation?