Don’t Grumble Against Grace - Esther 4
Have you ever been in a situation where your conscience was torn? You were prompted to say something, but you just let it go. The opportunity passed. Perhaps you were in a social situation where maybe you were the only Christian and something was said or done that didn’t sit well with you; you felt conflicted at the time but you let the opportunity slip from your grasp. Maybe later you thought about it and only then did you have the boldness or the words…’Oh I could have said this’ or ‘I should have offered this advice’, or worse rather than say anything you just agreed with the crowd while the spirit slowly died inside you. You know what I am talking about - if that’s you this morning, please know that it’s everyone else as well. We have all been there…coulda, shoulda….didn’t.
This was a little of the situation here in the book of Esther. Esther was struggling with what decision to make and kinda’ not grumbling, but fumbling a bit with the grace that was shown to her.
Some background here. It was 12th year of King Ahasuerus. He had a number of Names – Xerxes – Persia – Ahasuerus – Babylonian. We are told the date because in Esther 3:7 it says, “In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day.” Ahasuerus attained the throne in 486BC. This was twelve years on 474BC. Incidentally, this is the same king who Nehemiah addressed in 466BC as the king’s cupbearer – Esther would have been on the throne for about 10 years when Nehemiah approached the king. But this is earlier in his reign; 12 years of rule – 474BC. Esther had just been made Queen.
Most of you know the story – A plot happened to get rid of the Jewish people – Haman the Agagite – an ancient enemy people group of Israel. Haman was second in charge to the King. Mordecai, the uncle who raised Esther, didn’t bow down to this guy, because he couldn’t stand him and Haman hated it. Therefore, Haman plotted to kill the people group of Mordecai – the Jews. Mordecai had said to Esther as she was being considered as the new queen to not tell anyone who you are. Don’t say you are a Jew. Some things are wise to be kept from public knowledge – at least for a season, until the time is right for them to be revealed.
The time for that knowledge to be brought to light was rapidly approaching. Esther had probably been married to the king for a year or 2, possibly more at this point. Why would we say that? Because the shine had worn off Esther a bit. The king hadn’t seen her in 30 days.
Haman convinced the King to write a decree, without mentioning the people group, to wipe them out because Haman said to the king, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. 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 3:8)
The decree went out to annihilate the Jewish people; a precursor to what we saw in Hitler’s Germany. Indeed, Haman and Hitler have been compared as characters. All Susa was thrown into turmoil. As you would expect, the Jews had well and truly integrated into society. Remember these people were the grandchildren of the ones who decided not to return back to Judah. They stayed in Babylon and many travelled to Susa from Babylon after the Persians took over from the Babylonians as rulers. So, these folk were born and bred in the Persian Empire. They were citizens. Imagine if there was a decree that all those who have been born in Africa or the children of those born in Africa must die. We would lose many in our congregation, including me.
The people were Persians – through and through, but were also Jewish and practised the faith of their fathers.
Mordecai challenged Esther and she seemed to waiver. She responded, “"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law---to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden sceptre so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days." (Esther 4:11) You see, it was quite comfortable in the king’s palace. The king kept her but didn’t always call on her. Life was good. She was living in opulence, why would you rock the boat?
Like Esther, our default setting is to make people feel comfortable, to ease their pain, the hurt, the discomfort. Esther, rather than find out the truth of the matter, had tried to change Mordecai’s mind earlier. (Esther 4:3, 4) “And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes. When Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.”
It’ll be ok, change your clothes and move on. But see, Esther was isolated. Many of the Jews (and Mordecai) on the street knew the gravity of the situation, but Esther would rather not enquire. Some of us are a bit like Esther; there is a very serious truth that needs to be addressed. Turning away or turning a blind eye to it is not only unhelpful; in cases like this, it can be catastrophic. We don’t understand how much grace and blessing we have over our lives.
Mordecai, in his wisdom, not only stayed in the clothes of grief and mourning, but got Esther up to speed by telling her in verse 13, “"Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
In weakness God’s strength is shown. Esther finally got it. You won’t escape, Esther; this is the law of the Medes and the Persians – no-one escapes. Remember, not even Darius could go back on his decree to free Daniel from the lion’s Den after writing it. Irreversible. She responded in verse 16, “"Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish." Jesus has won the battle – 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb – finally secured deliverance.
Sin and Satan, like Haman, have been defeated at the cross. Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, his life for ours, secures eternal life for all those who believe on His name.
But maybe like Esther, you have also been in the situation where you did actually speak up and people were encouraged or challenged about their words or actions and people’s lives were changed for the better as a result. Maybe you have offered some sound advice that wasn’t taken and the person you spoke to has reaped the fruit of their bad decisions, but your conscience is clear.