Esther 6:1-3 “Trusting”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the night of the that, the sleep of the king fled and he said to bring in the writing of the remembrances of the things of the days and they were read to the face of the king, ²and it was found written which Mordecai told on Bigthana and Teresh, the two of the eunuchs of the king, ones keeping the door, which they had sought to send a hand in the king Xerxes, ³and the king said, “What has been done honor and dignity to Mordecai on this?” and the servants of the king, from his ministers, “Not a thing has been done for him.”

If we would learn from these verses, this is another place where I think it critical to stay “in the moment.” What I mean is that, once again, as these events unfold, no one knows the end of the story. Just like us, they live “in the moment,” facing all the realities of life, always without the luxury of knowing what the future holds. That said, if we are to learn from them, we have to join them “in the moment,” in spite of the fact that we do know the end of their story.

Here is the king. He can’t sleep. Maybe he knows “why.” Maybe he is stewing over something or maybe he simply had too much coffee (or chocolate) too late and it’s the caffeine that’s keeping him up. Or maybe he has no idea. Either way, he can’t get to sleep. In his “world without God” he can’t possibly know or even surmise that the Lord is up to something—that his sleeplessness is part of events of eternal significance.

And so what does he do? He does what people “without God” always do—whatever makes sense to them at the time. Being a very wicked, selfish man, it’s hard telling what he’ll demand of his servants this time. Of course, he totally couldn’t care less that he’s keeping them up in the middle of the night, that he himself won’t let them sleep, but then he’s the king, so why should he care how he affects anyone else? His solution tonight is to have the chronicles of the kingdom read to him. Commentators offer a lot of possible reasons why he would ask for this, but my personal opinion is it’s because they’re just flat boring. As an engineer, I often have to go back to the minutes from City Council and Village Board meetings to hunt down decisions that were made and I can say without any doubt it’s all one can do to stay awake reading them. Boring. Soporific to the n^th degree!

At any rate, the servant picks a particular scroll and opens it to a particular place and starts reading. Once again, as people without God, they think they know why they turned where they did. Maybe it was deliberate or completely random, but what they don’t know is that the God they cannot see is guiding their every step.

Let’s pause too and think of the other people in our story. Esther is perhaps sleeping in her apartment but whether asleep or awake, at this very moment, she has no idea what this next day will bring. On this day, she of course will provide for the king and Haman a banquet and then lay out her request, which will involve accusing the king’s favorite counselor. She has no idea what will happen. But note too that, even in this moment, she doesn’t know that the Lord Himself is orchestrating events to bring an outcome far better than she could possibly imagine. She is just having to try and trust God right now. She doesn’t know what He’ll do. She just has to trust that somehow, He will work all things “together for her good”—just like you and I have to.

The same goes for Mordecai, although isn’t it interesting that there are two plans in place for Mordecai in this coming day? Haman is lying in his bed, relishing the joy of seeing Mordecai hung from his gallows. Haman is another wicked, selfish man who is quite sure he can impudently murder another man and totally get away with it. Of course he is a prime example of the folly of wickedness—he thinks wickedness will bring him happiness but what he doesn’t know is that in a world where God does rule, often the most terrible judgment which may fall on a person is simply to suffer the consequences of their own sin. But then, hey! There is no God, so why not? Well, there is a God and He has the other plan for Mordecai. Guess who will win? I guess we could say there are two plans for Haman as well as Mordecai. Haman’s plan is to murder another man and be happy. God has the other plan for Haman. Guess who will win?

Then there are the Jewish people themselves. All over Xerxes’ kingdom, on this night, as Jewish people lie in their beds, whether they are asleep or happen to also be awake, they are faced with the horrible prospect that within just a few months they will all be killed. Each man is living under the horror that his wife and children and he himself will be brutally murdered on the 13^th day of Adar. The edict said, “to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children…” No doubt there were those among them, like Esther and Mordecai, who were praying and trying to trust God in it all, but remember they do not know the end of the story. They can only hope and trust.

I once again find it very instructive to ponder on these simple verses. You and I live in the same world—this world, it would seem, without God. In this book of Esther, we don’t even get to hear His name. As you and I bump around our world, if we would “see” God, we must see Him through the eyes of faith, just as is true in this book. You and I read this account and it would seem the Lord jumps off the page—it would seem so obvious that He is quietly intervening in all these people’s lives. Back in the book of Ruth, we got to trace the lives of those three people—Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz—but listen in as they “saw” God in every detail. They were people of faith and the book helped us see Him through their eyes of faith.

Here in the book of Esther, just as in your life and mine, we must see Him through our own eyes of faith. In this book, we’re not given the luxury of seeing Him through their eyes. We must see Him for ourselves.

As Esther would lie on her bed this night, she can only remind herself the Lord had said, “Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness…For I, the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear thou not, for I will help thee’” (Isa. 4110,13). Mordecai and all the Jewish people must lie on their beds and remind themselves He had said, “’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘Plans to do you good and not to harm you, plans to give you a d future and a hope’” (Jer. 29:11).  But remember, for them, these are only promises to believe. They don’t know the end of the story. But then, in our own lives, neither do you or I.

What do you think? Should they trust Him? Can they say with David, “I will both lay me down and sleep, for Thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety”? We know the end of their story. We know God is up to good things in their lives in spite of how bad it looks on this night. We know they can trust Him.

Can we?