Learning
to Trust God - Part IV: Book of Esther
Learning
to Trust God - Part IV: Book of Esther
“Our Goal for this bible study is to
learn to trust God with every area and aspect of our life.”
Key
Scripture:
Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths.
Esther 4:
When Mordecai knew what Haman had done, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and sat in the city and cried with a loud and bitter cry. He came before the kings gate in his sack cloth, which was against the rules. In all one hundred twenty-seven providences the king’s commandment and decree was given. The Jews were mourning, fasting, weeping, wailing and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
The custom of sack cloth and ashes was practiced throughout the Old Testament by Israel and other nations (Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel 1:11; Daniel 9:3*; Isaiah 15:3). Many times this custom was equated with fasting, prayer, mourning, and supplication.
Esther’s maids and her chamberlains (eunuchs) told her what Mordecai was doing. Esther was exceedingly grieved; and she sent clothes to Mordecai, but he refused the clothes. Then Esther had Hatach one of the king’s chamberlain who was appointed to attend to her, go to Mordecai asking him why was he in sack cloth. Mordecai told him all that Haman had done and the sum of money he promised to pay to the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. Mordecai also gave Hatach a copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy the Jewish people, to show Queen Esther and to charge her to go to the king to make supplication unto him, to plead for her people’s lives. So, Hatach showed the writing to the Queen and told her everything that her adopted-father Mordecai told him.
Esther told Hatach to go to Mordecai and tell him about the king’s commandment, “that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put that person to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live.” She told him to let her Father know, she had not been called in unto the king for thirty-days.
Although Esther is the king’s wife (queen) she too must obey the royal laws. Access to the king was strictly limited as access to our President is limited. All leaders in such positions need to be protected both from attempts on their lives and from vexation with people’s problems.
Mordecai’s response to Queen Esther, who had always obeyed his commandments, put great pressure on her. He reminded her of the risk death whether or not she approached the king, since she was in fact, a Jew. Mordecai’s faith and trust in God and his promises is evident verse 14, he reminds Esther, that God will not permit the extinction of his people and if Esther fails, God will have another way of saving the Jews, since God’s purposes are not thwarted by the failure of one individual’s disobedience to his leading. (Remember, the promise he made to Abraham: the promise child and Abrahams’ seed to be more numerable than the sand of the sea and the promised of the Messiah.
God is faithful to his word although he told Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham spoke his faith when he said, “Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” (vs. 5) His trust and faith in God spoke again in verse: 8 And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. So, they both Isaac and Abraham went up to sacrifice unto the Lord and both came back, because Abraham trust God. (Also note in verse 7, Isaac said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? (Proverbs 22:6 and Deuteronomy 11) Abraham trusted God to keep his promise and he was training his son to obey and trust the commands of God.
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed;
and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which
Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Genesis 22:1-14
King James Version (KJV)
22 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham,
and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
God has made Israel a promise that the Messiah will come to save his people. Therefore, God could not allow the Jews to wiped off the face of the earth. Esther’s life’s purpose is at stake in verse 14. Will she fulfill her purpose/destiny?
Esther responds to her cousin, Mordecai in verse 15-17, with a confession of faith as she accepts God’s purpose for her. Queen Esther requested Mordecai to gather all the Jews that were in Shushan to fast for her: neither eating nor drinking for three days: night and day. She and her maidens would also fast and then she would go to the king, which was not according to the law and she summarized it with “and if I perish, I perish, verse 16. Mordecai went his way and did according to all Esther had commanded him. He now obeys his Queen.
Let’s focus for a moment on verse 14: Speaks of the Providence of God. The word providence means “foreseeing”: the idea of providing for the future. This is God’s continuous work that he makes all thing work out according to His purpose. God is providing a way for our Messiah to come forth.
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose.
The scriptures teaches us that God rules over the all the earth and everything in it. God rules over the nations of the earth, the affairs of our lives, the animals and the universe. Therefore we must learn to trust him with every area and aspect of our lives.
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I Samuel 16:1
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Job 12:23
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Job 12:10
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Psalms 103:19
Esther’s final statement, “and if I perish, I perish” is not a statement hopelessness, it is a statement of confidence/trust in God’s will and wisdom. Her trust is in the God she serves as Jewish woman still obeying her cousin/father who adopted her.
"Esther is not leaning to her own
understanding, she is acknowledging God through fasting and prayer. She is trusting God with all her heart to direct
her path. (Proverbs 3:5-6)"
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Genesis 24:27
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Genesis 43:14
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Job 13:15
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Daniel 3:17-18
As we face our situations, trials, concerns of life, we should remember all the things we go through come directly or indirectly from God. We will be tried in the fire, so we can come forth as gold. Our trust must always remain in our heavenly father because he does work things out for our good.
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1 Peter 1:6-9
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James 1:2-4; 22
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1 Corinthians 10:12-14
1 Corinthians 10:12-14
King James Version (KJV)12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
Questions to Ponder:
1)
Are you facing a situation
in your life that seems hopeless?
(Health, finances, marriage, children in rebellion, a legal situation,
etc.)
2)
Where have you
placed your trust in your particular situation?
3)
What scriptures do
you stand on for your situation? (Psalm
119:104-106; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4)
4)
Where is Esther,
Mordecai, and the Jews trust? What
verse?
Next week we’ll continue our study of Esther Part V, Chapter 5 where we will see the courage of Esther.
Bible Study Participants please note the new lessons/post come out on each Tuesday and the prayer post come out on each Friday. (If you don't receive an email, the post will be here, the Lord willing.)
For those attending the bible study in person:
·
Read Esther Chapters 4-7
·
Be prepared to answer the above
questions
·
Be prepared to share what you learned in this
chapter
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