To those who are waiting for the title
Contents
♡♥♡ To those who are waiting / Esther 4:7-17
*** Introduction
The whole world is full of ‘waiting’. And life is a series of waiting. Children wait to grow up, wait for a good job, wait for a good match, wait for a promotion, wait for spring in winter, sow seeds, wait for harvest, wait for death. What opportunity, environment, or situation are you waiting for right now? It is said that God has set a time and a time for all things. That is why all things are waiting for the time that God has set.
But the important thing is that we don't know when. So, some people rush in and experience the pain of failure. Others wait for a better time, a better opportunity, and end up running out of time. If we could know the best time for all things, life would be prosperous. The Bible describes this case like this: Proverbs 25:11. “A word appropriate for the occasion is apples of gold on a silver tray engraved with it.”
In today's text, an urgent situation is unfolding about the 'time' when the life of the nation was at stake. The background of this text is the center of the rule of Vasa, a huge empire with 127 provinces across the country. It takes place between the Gentiles and the chosen people, God's people, taking place in Shushan Palace, the capital and ruler of Persia. Although there is no name or direct mention of God, you can feel the sovereignty of God stronger and more secretly. We hope that these words will give you an opportunity to think about what God's sovereignty is right now in us.
First, let's take a look at the overall plot of the event.
I urge you to take a careful look at God's mysterious providence in this story. The case revolves around the ‘Susan Palace’, the royal palace of Persia around 480 B.C., when Persia (Persia) was at its heyday as a huge empire. The king of Persia at that time was Ahasuerus, and he was at the beginning of his reign.
In the third year of the king's accession, a 180-day feast was held to show the wealth and power of the kingdom. When the feast was ripe, the king was overjoyed and invited his queen, Vashti, to boast to the people, but the queen disobeyed the order. The king was furious, and in the end, according to the hard-liners' theory of 'one bee and one hundred rules', the queen 'Washti' was dethroned. After that, the king conspired with the queen to choose a Jewish virgin ‘Esther’ as the queen.
Esther, whose Hebrew name is Hadassah, was an orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai. They were with the crowd that had been taken captive by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar when the southern Judah fell. After that, Babylon was captured by Darius of Persia, a new power, and some of the Jews returned to their homeland under the decree of King Cyrus. However, many Jews did not return home and remained in Persia.
Esther became queen at a time when things were complicated, and she did not reveal that she was a Jew. The king appointed a proud man named Haman as the second-in-command prime minister of the country. It had been five years since Esther became queen. Haman boasted of his power and made everyone kneel when he passed by. However, the only man, Mordecai, did not bow down to Haman. Haman plotted to apply the sin of terror to annihilate Mordecai and his people, the Jews. Haman paid a huge bribe of 10,000 talents of silver (equivalent to two-thirds of the state treasury) to the king, and succeeded in stamping the king's seal on the genocide law. A law promulgated with the king's seal stipulated that on December 13 all Jews could be killed and property taken away.
Mordecai knew about this and sent a message to his queen, Esther. It means, ‘Ask the king for mercy.’ Esther hesitated because the circumstances were not right, but at Mordecai's insistence, she decided to venture out. Esther asked Mordecai and all the Jews to pray while fasting for three days, and she also fasted with her servants. And, ready to die, he went to the king. In the end, with the favor of the king, the Jewish people were saved, and Haman, who was trying to annihilate the Jewish people, was put to death on the 50 cubits high execution table he had set up to kill Mordecai. Mordecai was also recognized for providing information about the poisoning of the king, so he became Prime Minister instead of Haman.
This story is a story of life itself, which gives you a sense of urgency and trembling. Still, it is unfolding with amazing precision, like gears meshing together. Through these words, we gain wisdom about the “time” that people have to go through and the providence of God.
1. He who waits for the time must discern the situation.
To discern the situation is to read the flow of the times and to realize the hand of God's providence. In order to discern the situation like this, the spirit must be awake. Jesus speaks of being awake. Mark 13:34-37.
“For example, when a man leaves home and goes to a foreign country, he gives authority to his servants, each with his own work, and it is like a command to the gatekeeper, ‘Keep awake.’ So, be awake. For you do not know when the owner of the house will come, or whether it will cry at night, if it crows at night, if it crows at the rooster, or at dawn. lest he come suddenly and see you sleeping. stay awake “These words I say to you speak to all men.”
I keep repeating the words, ‘Keep awake.’ This is an expression to show that it is very important. This is natural because we are waiting for the Lord's return, which will happen in an instant like lightning flashes. And if we are not awake, we cannot feel the hand of God working on us. God gave the prophet Elijah an opportunity to see God's presence. Elijah thought that God's presence would be terribly strong. God showed him that he was wrong. 1 Kings 19:11-12.
“The LORD said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.' Then the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind broke the mountains and broke rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but an earthquake And the Lord was not in the midst of it, and there was fire after the earthquake, but the Lord was not in the midst of the fire, and there was a still voice after the fire.”
You cannot feel God's work unless you are careful and awake. In the text, Esther was unaware of the crisis of her people outside the royal palace. The inside of the royal palace was peaceful and safe, and there was nothing lacking. However, news came from Mordecai, his maternal uncle. Haman wants to annihilate the Jewish people, so he tells the king to earnestly ask for the Jewish people. When Esther heard the news, she was only thinking about her own safety. Look at verse 11 of the main text.
Esther was immersed in the peace of the royal palace for a moment and did not realize the crisis situation. If we too are immersed in the life of the world, we do not realize the imminent crisis of spiritual life. In Ecclesiastes 9:12, it says, “For a man does not know his season, just as fish get caught in the net of calamity and as a bird gets caught in a snare, so too, when a day of calamity comes suddenly, people are caught in it.” 1 Thessalonians 5: Verse 3 says, "When they say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will by no means escape." Therefore, you must be alert to discern the situation.
2. Those who wait for their time must be determined.
When Esther hesitated, not fully aware of the situation, Mordecai said, “Do not think that you are alone in the palace, among all the Jews. If you remain silent at this time, there will be release and deliverance for the Jews by other means, but you and your father's house will perish. Who knows if it was not for this time that you gained the throne as a queen?” He says firmly and confidently.
Here, Mordecai showed his trust in God's plan of salvation, while at the same time thinking that Esther would become queen as part of God's plan of salvation. “Who knows whether it is not for this time that you have been crowned queen?” This is Mordecai's religious wisdom to judge God's timing. At the same time, it is urging Esther to make a decision.
We Christians must have the wisdom to measure the timing of God working in our own lives. Moses, the man of God, also prays in Psalm 90, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” The wisdom of judging God's timing is to realize what kind of God's plan is contained in the circumstances, circumstances, and things that are given to us now.
Do you believe that the things or circumstances given now represent the will of God? Then, what does God want to achieve through the work, circumstances, and circumstances that God has given me now?
Mordecai's reassuring words lifted Esther's mind. Then he asked Mordecai and all the Jews to fast for three days and pray for him. And he and his maids fasted and prayed for three days and then said that he would go to the king. And he leaves a very famous saying. “If I die, I will die.”
Esther made a decision to risk her life after realizing it. ‘After three days of fasting and prayer, I will break the rules and go to the king, and if I die, I will die.’ Esther’s decision is clear and clear. Esther went to the king without hesitation after fasting and praying for three days as she had decided. It is a situation that the king and all officials will be puzzled by. The appearance of Queen Esther standing in the courtyard was very lovely in the eyes of the king. The king held out a golden scepter and said to the queen, “I will give you half of the kingdom.” The meaning has been fulfilled.
When we make a decision, God also makes a decision. When Esther fasted and prayed and made a decision to risk her life, God created work. He moved the king's heart to make the queen feel lovable, and he kept the king from sleeping at night so that he read the royal diary of Mordecai, who saved his life by accusing the traitor. When Daniel made up his mind and prayed, God answered (Daniel 10:12). In this way, the determination of our faith changes circumstances and circumstances. Because God has decided.
Guys, what time are you waiting for now? If so, look back if now is not the right time. In order to know the time God has set for us, we must be awake in faith. And even in a crisis environment that doesn't make sense to me, I have to make a decision. And if you do it faithfully, God will make it happen.
This is a story from the anecdote of Rickyman Greaves.
Mrs. Jackson was very fond of knitting. Unfortunately, her eyesight was so bad that once she started knitting, her eyes ached and hurt, so she couldn't continue knitting. Those who knew this could not help but be astonished to hear that ‘nearly all the clothes she wears were woven by her own hands.’ To those who wonder, ‘How can I do that?’ she says:
“I knit one line a day. It's one line when I've been squeezing it out. But even if you weave one row a day, you can make one piece of clothing in a year.”
Don't wait for the right time to lie down under the persimmon tree and wait for the persimmons to fall. Those who really long for time are faithful to the given reality. This is because faithful today gathers to fulfill God's time. Therefore, today, when Christians have life, is the God-given time. I pray that all of us long for the time of salvation that God has set, and that the life we are given now will come true by faithfully walking step by step with an awake decision.