For such a time as this | Mundane details can aid in revealing God’s sovereignty (Nehemiah 10 – Esther 3)

For such a time as this | Mundane details can aid in revealing God’s sovereignty (Nehemiah 10 – Esther 3)

Have you ever considered that God placed you exactly where you are today ‘for such a time as this’? That phrase easily emanates through our minds when we consider the lofty role Esther played in saving the Jewish people from annihilation. When you look at the characteristics of those around her as well as her obedience, the phrase hits a more personal level.

In review, the last two books featured a scribe who led the people and a cupbearer turned governor. Now, we come to a young Jewish woman who became Queen.

It’s never too late to start….

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Where are they now?

Back in the day, Solomon had immense wealth. Here, King Xerxes flaunts his great wealth, he even had individual gold goblets for his guests. But where are the Jewish people? With Solomon, they were together enjoying a season of rest with a new temple and a stable outlook. Now, they are scattered and living among their captors.

The areas under Xerxes’ control were filled with people of different nations, a melting pot if you will with the Jews interspersed among them.

He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people.

Esther 1:22, emphasis added

[A]n edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language.

Esther 3:12b, emphasis added

The King…

King Xerxes was not exactly a leader for kids to emulate. Sure he was rich, but what does that really mean when you boast about your wealth, try to flaunt your wife, kick her out when she ‘disobeys’, then acquire a harem of women based solely on their beauty? Essentially, quite shallow. His riches and position were about all he had to offer, which isn’t much in the scheme of life.

Consider his then wife, Queen Vashti. We can learn from secular writings that her son became the next king. The timing of his birth was right around the same time she was forced to relinquish her position.

When King Xerxes commanded her to leave her own banquet to show off her beauty to drunk men and a (likely) equally drunk husband, she was either pregnant or had recently given birth. How humiliating in and of itself, but this adds to the disrespect shown to her.

Who to turn to for advice…

Who you receive advice from is crucial. If someone has an ulterior motive it should be a telling sign to heed their advice cautiously.

King Xerxes receives his advice from his ‘wise men’. One of these wise men advised him to kick Vashti to the curb.

Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen’s behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will say the same to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty.

If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”

Esther 1:16-20

Now, remember, Queen Vashti was holding a banquet for the women in the royal palace. This likely included the spouses of these wise men who all agreed with Memucan. They were worried their wives would ‘step out of line’. As an extra jab for those in ethnically-mixed marriages, they added that the households speak the language of the man of the house.

Seeing the hand of God…

Look back over your life, pick out and SEE the thread of God working seamlessly in and through you to draw you closer to Him. The times a stranger cared for your need and you recognized God’s help. Or, how you almost got in an accident but was spared. Maybe, you became sick and it pointed you to Christ. Perhaps, the trials you went through that brought you to your knees. Consider now, the Bible shares the story of Esther, in real time if you will, so we see as it happens the thread of colors weaving together to point to His sovereignty.

It was not happenstance that:

• the Jews were scattered among them,
• Mordecai was highly respected and lived in or near Susa,
• she was an orphan and had no parental lineage immediately available to reveal her heritage,
• God made her a beautiful woman,
• Vashti refused to submit to a disgraceful and disrespectful request,
• the men offering advise were self-serving,
• the King’s personal attendants advised him to build a harem of women based on their beauty,
• Hegai was immediately drawn to Esther (her personality likely matched or superceded her beauty),
• he shared with her advice of how to win the King’s favor,
• Mordecai had Esther promise to not reveal her nationality,
• Esther won the favor and approval of all the other women and became Queen,
• Esther was not asked to perform like Vashti was,
• Mordecai’s job was near the gate where he discovered a conspiracy and essentially saved the King’s life,
• Mordecai refused to bow to Haman (keep in mind Daniel had likely been dead for 25 years at this point but it was also likely that it was widely remembered when he refused to bow to a statue with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego),
• Haman would have such immense hatred for Mordecai that he wanted to annihilate his entire people group,
• the month the Jews celebrate Passover (being delivered from Egyptians) is the same month Haman starts plotting their destruction,
• Haman falsifies information in his ‘advice’ to the king (“Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them” Esther 3:8b, emphasis added), and
• the edict was to be known by all peoples in their tongue and widely spread so everyone could prepare (“to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods” Esther 3:13b).

The mundane details…

Looking through that list, so many are normal day-to-day details that one could argue, “just happened”. If you look at your life, how many of those very seem types of details are everyday occurrences? However, there are no coincidences. God is not a God of chance or luck.

The mundane details are the guiding baby steps toward Him. Stacked up, it’s an amazing tapestry of details made into a beautiful piece of art.

For such a time as this…

Perhaps, a good reminder might be that you were made for such a time as this. No matter your station in life, you are in the exact place you are meant to be under God’s sovereign hand. If you are a busy Dad, a single Mom, a janitor, a banker, a homeschooling Mom, a single guy… just remember, you were made for such a time as this. Your life has value in the here and now, right where you’re at. You can make a difference within your current sphere of influence.

It is hard to see that though, when you aren’t seeing the details or understanding God’s ultimate sovereignty.

The book of Esther wisely points us to see the everyday details, those that we would normally look past, and see how God is behind them. Take the time to consider your own life. Pick an event (a new job, leaving a job, a new friend, a dark season, a trial) and specifically see the hand of God leading to and through it. Find those baby steps and His leading. Practice this habit and learn it well.

When you train your mind to do this, you’ll start seeing him real-time in your everyday life. Yes, a trial will still be heavy, but it will be paired with a sense of peace as you hand-pick out His love. The days will hardly pass by when you aren’t seeing Him and His guidance.

Last Week

Nehemiah 3 – 9

Leading & Guiding | Practical mindset with help from above, emboldens character

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