Learning
to Trust God - Part II: Book of Esther
“Our Goal for this bible study is to learn to trust God with every area and aspect of our life.”
Learning
to Trust God - Part II: Book of Esther
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.
In this
portion of our study, we will examine the importance of trusting God when we
don’t know his plan nor understand his plan. His plan unfolds through our
obedience to his word. In our last study we learned about the order God
has. In this study we begin to see how
obedience, which is our evidence of loving and trusting God and his divine
order, which brings the blessings of his divine plan.
Esther Chapter 2: (KJV)
King Ahasuerus remembers what Vashti has done and what was
decreed against her: to longer be queen because she did not obey his command to
come to him when he requested. Since he was the king and this was done openly,
he could not restore Vashti as queen.
Upon counsel given to him, fair young virgins were sought
for the king in all of his one hundred twenty seven providences of his kingdom. The King would choose a new Queen.
There was a Jew, name Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of
Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,
who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity. His cousin, who was his uncle’s daughter,
name Hadassah (Esther) became his daughter, after her father and mother died. (Hadassah is the
Hebrew name of the heroine and means “Myrtle.” In the prophetic symbolism the myrtle
would replace the thorns, briers of the desert, demonstrating the Lord’s
forgiveness and acceptance of His people.
The myrtle branches are carried in procession at the Feast of
Tabernacles signifying peace and Thanksgiving.
The Persian name “Esther” means “Star”; from the Hebrew: star-like
flowers of the myrtle.) Names and the meaning of names were very important in
the Old Testament Times.
Esther was brought to Shushan the palace, as the king
commanded. Esther was fair and beautiful
and she obtained favor of Hegai, the keeper of the women. He put her in the best place of the house of
the women and gave her the things for purification.
Mordecai charged Esther to not show her people nor her
kindred. Remember they were brought into
this kingdom as captives. Esther was raised as a young girl to serve God, the
God of the Hebrews (Jews); she grew up with the Ten Commandments and the
Law. She honored and obeyed Mordecai as she
had honored and obeyed her mother and father, before they died.
1st Commandment Exodus
Chapter 20:1-3
Exodus 20:1-3 (KJV)
20 And
God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Matthew 22:36-40 (Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and he
is love)
Matthew 22:36-40 (KJV)36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The first step in learning to trust God, is to love
him. Love leads to obedience, obedience
shows we trust him. The word says, If
you love me, keep my commandments. This is how God knows you love him. It's not by saying, Lord I love you. It's by being obedient to his word, all of his word.
A. John
14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
B. John
15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall
abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and abide in his love.
Jeremiah 29:11 God has plans for us
Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV)11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
God has plans for us, just like he had plans Esther. God's
plans normally are not our plans; his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are
not our thoughts. We must trust God’s
plans. When trust God, we walk by faith
and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7
(For we walk
by faith, not by sight:)
Here we have the young Hadassah (Esther) obeying her
cousin, who is now her Father, Mordecai and the king’s commandment. Did you ever think about what Esther wanted
as a young girl? What were her
dreams? Even more what were Mordecai’s
plans and dreams for Esther before the kings’ command came?
Every day Mordecai walked before the court of the women’s
house to see how Esther was and what should become of her. After the purification of twelve months was
accomplished, Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus in the tenth month, which is
the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all
of the women and she obtained grace and favor in his eyes. So he set
the royal crown upon her head and she became his queen. They celebrated with feasts and gifts.
Esther continued to obey the commandment of Mordecai, just
like when she was brought up with him. During that time, Mordecai sat in the
king’s gate, and two of his chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh were angry with
the king and plotted to kill him.
Mordecai found out, an assassination attempt would be made on the king
and he told it to Queen Esther and she certified the king in Mordecai’s
name. After the matter was investigated,
the men were hanged on a tree and it was recorded in the Book of Chronicles
before the king. At that time Mordecai did not receive any recognition for
saving the kings life, which was a good deed.
When you have done the right thing and have not received
recognition, remain faithful to God. Whatever we do we do it unto the Lord not
unto man. Colossians
3:23
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as
to the Lord, and not unto men;
We must trust God with
our love and obedience to him. God sees
and knows everything. His eyes behold
the good and the evil. He is our just reward.
Esther’s purification process was twelve months and
another ten months passed before she went before the King. Think of that, twenty-two months, waiting
just for an introduction to the king.
Are you waiting for something?
Have you prayed for something and have not received an answer to your
payer yet? Are you preparing yourself for the arrival of the KING OF KINGS? As we wait for an answer to
our prayers or desires, we must trust God, for he knows the plans he has for us. During our preparation we must also bear fruit. We need to
be mindful, if God’s answer to our prayer or desire is “No”, he as our loving
Father has our best interest in mind.
Remember the Children of Israel desired an
earthly king? God did not want to give
them an earthly king, but they wanted to be like the world. (I Samuel 8:4-22; 9-10) God had been an
excellent King for them, but as we are today, the children of Israel were very
unappreciative and soon they forgot all the wonderful things God had done for
them, including bringing them out of slavery and taking care of them in the
wilderness. We are the same way today,
God does many things for us, but we, sadly to say, are often unappreciative and
quickly forget his goodness toward us.
Sometimes God’s answer to our prayers
or desires are yes, but not now. The answer will come at the appointed time:
Abraham and Sarah received a promise from God to have a son and from the
promise child their descendants would be as many as the stars of heaven and the
sand of the sea. We must trust God to keep his promise, no matter what. God asked Abraham to offer his promised Son
to him as an offering. Sometimes you
will be tested with the promise you asked God for. But, God is faithful, therefore he is
trustworthy. He did ask for Isaac to be sacrificed
as a child, but the other part of the promise still had to be fulfilled. God is not a liar, he always keeps his word. If he promised he will do it no matter what. Oh, he is trustworthy!
Suggestion: Get a journal and write down
asked and answered prayers and reflect upon them from time- to-time. Many times
you will see the hand of God with you all along, when he said yes, when he said
no, and when he made you wait. God orders our steps.
Questions:
1)
Did you ever
consider Esther, whether or not she desired to be brought before the king?
2)
Is there an area in
your life that you now realize, due to length of time, you are not trusting God
with this area in your life?
3)
If you answered yes
to the question above, what scriptures of encouragement are you leaning on?
4)
How many years did
David trust the promise from God that he would become king? Do you think David,
as a child tending the sheep, dreamed of becoming a king?
5)
God promised the
Children of Israel they would inherit the Promise Land, how many years did it
take?
6)
How many years was
it before Abraham and Sarah received the promise child?
Note: Length of Time
is not a factor with God. But he is
always on time.
Summary Lesson for Chapter 2 Book of
Esther:
Trust God to order your steps. God ordered the kings command, Mordecai, and
Esther. Trust God while you are
waiting. While you wait you are in a
preparation phase, just as Esther went through twelve months of purification
which was her preparation phase and ten months of waiting before she could go
before the king. God sees the big picture;
we only see what we want or desire. He
has a plan. Trust him to fulfill the
plans he has for your life. We want to
get to the point we can say, “Not my will, but, Thy will be done.”
Next week, we will continue our study on "Learning to Trust God - Part III: The Book of Esther
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Answers to Part I Discussion
Questions:
1.
Yes, Acts 5:29
2.
Titus 2:3-5
3.
Proverbs 30:5 - a
shield
Next week, we will continue our study on "Learning to Trust God - Part III: The Book of Esther
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