Can you
imagine a believer today receiving a harsh word? How about a word that is of
God and still harsh? What if it could save your life and your loved ones? Would you receive it or go about your own business?
In the book
of Esther, we find there is this occurrence! Today one would just say, “Well that
is not of God and continue in their own opinion and plan!” Yes, it is sad but so
true today!
In this
book of Esther, we learn that Esther’s parents died and she is raised by her
cousin Mordecai who is a scribe for the king. ( he adopts her as his own child)
We learn that within the king’s partying mode, that Queens Vashti will not come
before her drunken king husband nor before his drunken friends to coax their
egos. No, she refuses and the king decides to get a new Queen. She was not going to be brought down from her rightful place by marriage to the king to be ogled by his drunken lustful fiends!
In this
day, the young women and girls are taken from their homes in Persia. They are
kidnapped under the dark of night and are faithful to the instruction told them,
and with that, they bring back as many young girls for the kings viewing. (Yeah, I think they call them “harems”)
The process
would begin with all the right beauty products, the right clothing, hairstyle,
jewelry and perfumes, and would include even the foods they would eat. The process would
take a year and then the “groomed” girl would come to stand before the king!
While in
the home of Mordecai, Esther is raised to know the customs of her people. She
also has the advantage of knowing the wisdom Mordecai has gained from the many
years of walking with God. He had given her knowledge of the Holy One and he
gave her insight before she was taken by
surprise to be given over to the king and his whims.
Now in this
day, one might see this as sexual trafficking. Still the very lives of these people
are portrayed in their actions to the hostile time of which they lived, the
opportunity to uncover a conspiracy and hold out in prayer for God’s plan was
seen. Would that hold true for our hearts?
Esther is
chosen to be Queen. The hostile actions of people like Haman increases and
choices will have to be made. In Esther 4: 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 very 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. 4 So Esther’s maids and
eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent
garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would
not accept them. 5 Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom
he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai,
to learn what and why this was.
Esther 4:6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square
that was in front of the king’s gate. 7 And Mordecai told him all that had
happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the
king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the written
decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it
to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the
king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people.
Esther 4:9 So
Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 10 Then Esther spoke to
Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of
the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court
to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death,
except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live.
Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.” 12
So they told Mordecai Esther’s words.
Esther 4:13
And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you
will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if
you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise
for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.
Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are
present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days,
night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go the king,
which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Mordecai,
clad in sackcloth and ashes descended to the city square! He has heard a harsh
word. Death would be coming to take out
the Jews. And in his mindset of a prophet he sits and mourns in the square. He
is pronouncing what is coming. There is the sound of hoofbeats with riders descending
on a nation set to destroy a people. And Queen Esther sends out a word. She has
come to the king’s palace. She has dressed in fine apparel, she has eaten the
finest foods and had the fabulous treatments of a spa in her own home. And now
Mordecai, does this act and speaks these things! Harsh word is given and she has heard it. But she wants to
dress him and tell him everything will be okay. Let me dress you up, and here put
on gladness because of these fabulous glad type clothing I have here. Come on and cheer up and let me clothe you and feed you with the finest from the king's table!
But all is not good
for the Jews! And it is he who tells her so. Mordecai knows the heart of Haman and his
destructive plan for the Jewish people. Mordecai would not bow before Haman and
now this thing is appearing on the horizon and it is now growing substantially. A man with a hatred
toward the Jewish people is more apparent with money paid, and violence is heard and the
horses with riders, yes, the men ride to send out the decree!
Esther 4: 13
And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you
will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if
you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise
for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.
Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Here
Mordecai, reminds her to not think in her own heart that she will escape in the
king’s palace and even more than all the other Jews. He says even more, for in
this he is reminding her of her place among the Jews and the heritage her parents
had for her long ago. He is telling her to not
wrap this hostile action against the people in fine apparel, with the finest
that is found in the palace among the king and his men. No one can serve
the world and God also! You cannot have two masters. And what are you serving
when you go for the quiet time, that quiet moment with God? Did you bring back
loads of revelation or just find you like being left to your own? It took
Mordecai, Esther the Queen and many servants to pray for the righteousness of
God to be seen in the land in a tremendous time of hatred! And everyone would be affected by this hate: both adults and the children and future children of this nation!
Where has
God placed you in this nation? Where has He planned for you to live in this world? For those who really hear, will know in the midst of
chaos God rules from a quiet heart that is ruled by Him. In the midst of great
noise, God can hear in the softness of His speaking. Instruction came!
Whatever
beauty she had, whatever grace held, she only had left of what God could and
would do in a believing and faithful heart. We cannot wrap the world around
what God is doing! We cannot wrap the world around just anything and call it
good! No! What we should take note of is, like Mordecai went in the extreme
manner, to display the importance of what was about to occur to a people: certain death! Dressed in sackcloth and
ashes, he mourned for that which belonged to God! He mourned for a people of God.
And his response
to Esther is one that she can die in the palace as well as those outside could and would die. But
he reminds too, that she has come to the palace for such a time as this and that being tuned to God in
this hour is paramount to ending with God. She is impacted by a greater purpose
than just her own comfort and status quo. By her uncle's words she is turned
from her own self-interests to the plans and purposes of God. Her heart had to have purity to go and do for the Lord.
A harsh
word she had heard! A harsh word she had to receive or end in death with many
people. A harsh word by Mordecai the prophet, to a Queen, to be reminded what side are you on!
May we not
be short-sighted. May we be women and men, too, who will delight in heart and
receive correction when it is for a people of a nation that God calls his own for
His purposes and to His praise. Shine, you are made for this day and this hour
to pray, hear from God above the noise and run with purpose.
In my own life, I remember loving those quiet moments, those minutes that evolved into many hours of prayer and study of God's word. For talking with Him is still my favorite hearts desire. I can wear those ear buds, have my phone in hand, but the language is by the Holy Spirit and the word I hear is God's by His own voice! ( for we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to us. So when our God is daily added as first for twenty years, one would have that walk established, and it would be to His will, purpose and glory to pursuing His call for our lives. Also remember that seeking His kingdom and His righteousness always comes with knowing those who will receive His word of truth and who will not receive that word of TRUTH in Jesus. For Matthew 7 is a continuation of Matthew 6 and He warns of preaching or teaching the Gospel to those who would cheapen the Word, the Gospel of Grace. He called them dogs and swine!) Yikes!
And I remember the day, our daughter and new son-in-law were arriving at Seatac. I remember having to stop that regular routine in my day to get to the airport at the right time. And as I drove there about mid-afternoon, I remember the Lord speaking to me to be able to hear in and above the noise. He said to me back then in 2002 that noise would be the rule in the world. He revealed noise would become a real burden. He also warned me to be able to discern by what was His speaking and what was of the world. Yes, that of the world you know of like: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and that pride thing!
So I began that day: getting up early, spent time in prayer, did some things around the house, headed to the airport about an hour earlier than required. I got parked, headed into the terminal and got a coffee and sat. I did not find that "quiet" out of the way little table by the wall. Did not go search out a cubby hole somewhere! No, I found an empty seat with a loud T.V overhead playing loudly the days news events. And the noise was great and it increased while I sat there. And I prayed even more, but I could hear Him speaking and what a wonderful time I had at the airport waiting to meet and greet my family back from their honeymoon.
1
Thessalonians 4 reminds us of comfort of Christ’s coming. In verse 16 For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the triplet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first,
be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And
thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with
these words. 1 Thessalonians 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For
when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as
labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you,
brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be
sober ( self-control) 7 for those who sleep, sleep at night, those who get drunk
are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God
did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just
as you also are doing.
Yes that "peace and safety" and then that sudden destruction. I tell my husband daily I love him so that I miss not an opportunity in case of a sudden thing.
Of late, we have seen a number of those documentaries of Draining the Ocean. And in a couple I saw this last weekend was eye openers. Draining the Ocean in a number of areas, yes, with that new technology, they uncovered vast amounts of volcanoes erupting, vast amount of fault-lines in the oceans, especially the mid-Atlantic ridge that runs all the way to Iceland. And this can give way to an earthquake under the ocean that can cause cities to be taken over by extreme sized tsunamis in minutes and in some cases even in seconds. We also saw one such volcano under the ocean that exists off Italy ( the west side). We saw how vast the destruction would be from one erupting under the ocean that would give way to the earth sinking into the oceans depths. They know this because it had occurred before to another thriving community hundreds of years ago. How far reaching would such the magnitude of a volcano erupting within the depths of salt water that could overtake a country in under some thirty minutes and how much great destruction would be experienced. For they noted one such community was hit by the volcanic eruption, then a tsunami and then a second eruption that led to more than two years of winter. In moments a great quake can take out cities along coast lines and wash out hundreds of miles of land inland. And that is done underground, so can you imagine above the ground and what you might see? We have one such volcano that erupts regularly that we keep watch on off the coast of Oregon and it is growing in size indeed! (you know that is how the Hawaiian islands were formed, right?)
Let us be
of the day, lights shining bright, not to given to much sleeping when we should be awake. Not
to being drunk in our own vanity but having a breastplate of faith and love. As
the Christian we are to enjoy the advantages of being in the light. It is to
avoid those potentially dangerous and destructive surprises given in the
darkness.
In the lives
of Mordecai and Esther, we recognize honor. Honoring God, these were honoring His people,
and to behave in Him so that when an unbeliever sees, they will honor God and
Him as their source of godliness. Each of us can most likely say we have lost a
loved one in the last two years. And some might even say that loss occurred during 2020 and also 2021, but we
expect to see those loved ones again. Our comfort is receiving God and His word
and however harsh it might seem, we would do well to obey and move by His Holy
Spirit to see His kingdom to continue to come into our lives and see His glory
fill this earth indeed!
Because we can see things can change in an instant of time! Anyone ready to receive a place for a "harsh word"?
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