FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS (Esther 6: 1-14)

In this chapter we see that the tables start to turn. Wicked Haman plans to kill Mordecai. The king cannot sleep. He discovers that some years ago Mordecai saved his life, but he was not rewarded for that. That morning, Haman came to see King Xerxes, to ask for permission to hang Mordecai on the high gallows he had built. The King was looking for a way to bless the same Mordecai. He is asking Haman: “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Mordecai, full of pride and selfish ambition, imagines that the king is talking about himself. He recommends a royal public display to honor that man. To his shock, the king tells Haman: “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken”. Grudgingly, Haman obeys. He leads Mordecai to the city square telling all people that the king has promoted and blessed Mordecai, the man he hates to death. This event marks the beginning of Haman’s downfall and serves as a powerful example of God’s sovereignty and justice. After the public display of honor, Mordecai goes back to his work at the city gate. This is true humility. Haman goes home to share his humiliation with his wife and friends. They cannot help or encourage him. The wife gives him a prophetic word of doom: “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him”.

Lessons:

*God is sovereign over human events. God is not too “slow”, His time is perfect. God works behind the scenes for our good and for His glory. God’s timing and our timing is not the same. God lives in eternity. We are limited because we live on earth in times and seasons.

*God works behind the scenes. The name of God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, yet He works everything for His glory!

*Behind every successful person there is a spiritual mentor (a destiny helper). Esther continued to submit to Mordecai even as queen.

*Character is greater than position and possessions.

*Seek God in times of crisis.  

*God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble! Pride leads to a fall. Humility and faithfulness are rewarded. God is patient with the wicked so that they repent. But God will not strive with the sinners forever. There is a time of judgment, on earth and in heaven.

*Like Mordecai, be humble and faithful in your duties to God and to man. God will reward you with greater authority over bigger things.

*The fact that we do not know the time of events shows our human limitation and the need for preparation. We must take the warnings of the Bible seriously! Prepare to meet God anytime! We must pay the price for spiritual maturity, by the study of God’s Word, prayer, and serving God in the local assembly.

*Learn to wait on God! When God makes a promise, by faith, wait for its performance. When we experience delay, we tend to allow anxiety and doubt to enter our minds. Learn to trust God! Do not wait passively for God to answer your prayer. Actively prepare yourself to be a holy vessel to contain the answer to your prayer.

*Always pray for wisdom to see things from God’s perspective. Wisdom will make you patient as you wait for God to answer your prayer.

*Use the present suffering to draw closer to God. Do not waste your pains.

*Be led and filled by the Holy Spirit. Do not be too fast (impatient) and do not be too slow (lazy).

*Waiting means gathering strength. “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isa 40:31). Waiting for God is not wasting. It is becoming like Jesus!

*”Redeem the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). Use every opportunity you have in this life to become an eternal treasure!

*If you have worked faithfully for many years but you have not seen the fruit of your labor, then trust God’s timing for the harvest (Gal 6:9)

*If you trust God for the fulfillment of a Biblical promise, God wants you to trust Him with His timing. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1Thess 5:24). Worship the Lord!