The Subtlety of God the King
December 4, 2016

Scripture: Esther 5

I. You should leave your plans for His plans.

A. Esther’s plan for her life was not to rock the boat, keep her Jewish identity a secret, and hope that the king would be in a good mood when he called for her. But as we know God had a different plan for Esther’s life. God’s plan for Esther was revealed in Esther 4:14 when Mordecai said to her, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” The time that Mordecai was referring to was the time when the Jews had been sentenced to death by Haman. Haman didn’t know though that while he was planning to destroy the Jews God was planning to save the Jews. And God’s subtle plan for saving the Jews involved Esther.

B. By the time of the events of Esther 5 it was time for Esther to reveal herself as a Jew. So according to Esther 5:1 on the third day when the Jews were fasting and praying on Esther’s behalf, Esther appeared before the king. Would Esther live? Or would she die? The good news was that Esther would live – at least for the moment. Following God’s plan to attempt to save the lives of the Jews was working for Esther and the Jews so far (vs. 2).

II. You should learn to imitate God’s subtlety.

A. When King Ahasuerus extended to Esther his scepter in vs. 2, she dodged a bullet. But Esther was still under a death sentence (Esther 3:13). Esther needed to get the king to repeal the law to exterminate the Jews. The odds were long. First, Esther needed to ask for the reversing of a law of the Medes and the Persians, which could never be changed. Second, changing this law would cost the king a lot of money – 10,000 talents. Third, it would be a major embarrassment to the king to change this law that his right-hand man had written up. Finally, reversing this law would mean that Esther would have to reveal her hidden Jewish identity to her husband.

B. What was Esther’s strategy for getting the king to reverse the law ordering the slaughter of the Jews? She was subtle. She kept inviting the king and Haman to come over for dinner. Why? Because she took her time, notice what her husband had committed himself to do two times before Esther had even told him what she wanted (vs. 3 and 6). It was Esther acting in a subtle manner that sparked a desire to be generous on her husband’s part.

III. You should liquidate your idols.

A. Haman, the enemy of the Jews, was flying high after his banquet with the king and Esther (vs. 12). But then his emotions went to the bottom when he saw Mordecai (vs. 9). Our emotions tell us what our idols are. Our strong emotions – both the positive emotions and the negative emotions – tell us what we worship. Haman worshiped himself. We need to worship Christ alone and kill our idols. We should hunger to come to God every day. We see the author of Hebrews encouraging us to take advantage of God’s open door in Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Application:
Go to God and ask for His power to kill your idols and to become more like Christ.

Sources:
The book of Esther
Commentaries on Esther by Iain Duguid, Karen Jobes and Frederic Bush