7The king Xerxes spoke to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold! The house of Haman I have given to Esther and him they hanged upon a gallows, because he sent his hand against the Jews. 8And you (pl.), write upon the Jews according to good in your (pl.) eyes in the name of the king and seal in the ring of the king because a writing which [has] been written in the name of the king and [has] been sealed in the ring of the king not to bring back.
The previous verses just ended with our beautiful Esther tearfully asking the king to “let an order be written overruling the dispatches which Haman devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.” She’s saying, “Please do something to rescue my people from Haman’s awful decree!” Let us be reminded that, in the moment, as Esther stands there looking through her tears into the eyes of the king, making this request to him, she does not know how he’ll respond. Even as she speaks, the wholesale slaughter of her people hangs in the balance. Let us also once again be reminded, this is no small matter to our Esther. “For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
Here's my point: The matter is completely out of Esther’s hands. She has no control over how Xerxes will respond. Yes, she has risked her life to make these requests to start with. Yes, as I noted in the last two posts, she is a very smart girl and has used every possible influence to make it easy for Xerxes to respond positively—yet, the decision is still his. In the final wash, she has no control over how he will respond. As she stands there, he may grant her request and save her people, or he may just blow her off and in fact her family will still be annihilated. It is now out of her control.
Is this not your world and mine? Whether we want to admit it or not, in the final wash, we have no control over the very issues that matter most to us in life. A farmer may put his seeds in the ground, but he cannot make them grow. Doctors may treat my children, but they cannot heal them. How many parents in human history have buried a child even though they and their doctors did all in their power to preserve that child’s life? As a young man, I observed a beautiful girl who was a very hard worker and a sweet Christian, yet I could not make her take any interest in me. Fortunately, she did and now I’ve been married to her for almost 40 years! But the plain fact is, when a man asks a girl, “Will you marry me,” she can say, “No.” I desperately need a job, but at any given second, my bosses could decide my services are no longer needed and let me go. Then I will find I cannot make anyone hire me. I once stood at the funeral of a man who died too young. His wife sadly said, “This is not how the story was supposed to go.”
Once again, my whole point here is that, as Esther stands awaiting Xerxes’ response, your world and mine are no different. In the final wash, we do not control the issues that matter most to us in life. So what do we do? Someone will say, “You just have to do your best.” That sounds good except it still leaves us with the constant terrifying possibility it may not be enough. So what do you do?
I hope anyone reading this realizes there is no answer. We *can*not* make life turn out the way we wish. In spite of our most determined efforts, the most clever strategies, the very best market plans, the services of the best doctors and nurses—no matter what, like Esther, there comes a point where we stand, helplessly awaiting results over which we possess no final control.
So what do you do? Here is precisely where I am glad that I do not live in a “world without God.” Although the book of Esther never once mentions Him, I am quite sure Esther is very aware of His presence and power. She knows she is not alone. No, she can’t control her world, but she has a God who does. She can stay sweet. She can stay humble. She can ask respectfully. Even facing horrid threats, she can be a person of sincere hope. And why? Because she has a good and wise God to trust. Faith allows our Esther to just go on being a loving, sweet person.
I want to suggest it is a point
of great wisdom when you or I come face to face with the reality of our own
frailty and realize I was never born to live alone. I was born to know this God
and to live my life actually in partnership with Him. Like the farmer, I can’t
make it rain. But I can plow the furrow, plant the seeds, then trust my God to
make the seeds germinate and grow, make the sun to shine and the rains to fall.
I don’t have to go around my field pulling up on my cornstalks to try to get
them to grow taller. God does that. I can keep my field weeded. I can try to protect
it from pests, however, in the end, it will be up to my God whether my harvest
will be lean or bountiful. Farming is a man/God business. And so is all the
rest of life.
Esther knew it. You and I should too. I have been trying to practice this for some time. I’m trying to be constantly aware that I am “a man with a God.” As I’m doing my work, I’m doing “what I can,” while at the same time trying to be aware of how I am depending on God to do what I cannot. In every conversation, I am trying to remember that, in reality, I am speaking for Him. I want to say the words He would say, respond to people the way He would respond. I am a man with a God. Esther was a woman with a God.
Although the vast majority of people alive will utterly ignore the Lord, and though they may seem to “get along,” I don’t want to live in a “world without God.” I need Him. I need His hope. I need His strength. I need His love. And now I can say after more then 40 years of knowing Him, I have found Him faithful. He hasn’t always made things turn out the way I wanted, but looking back, I can now see why not. Like a good parent, He’s always been about my greater good.
Esther would teach us all to face the reality of our own impotence and embrace the man/God, woman/God existence we were born to live.
At the end of verse 6, Esther still doesn’t know. But she has a God to trust.
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