For Such a Time As This | Esther 4

There's no way I could have planned this, but

it's not lost on me this morning that we'll be

studying the most well -known phrase in the entire

book of Esther. For such a time is this. And

it comes one week after I stood up here in this

pulpit and while addressing the recent violence

in our nation, I said that we as a people have

come to a pivotal moment in our history. That

it's time for the people of God to recognize

the encroaching evil in our world. and to stop

backing down, that it's time for the church to

take a stronger stance for what is true and to

speak up against the rot that has come upon our

civilization. Friends, as I said last week, evil

is at our doorstep, and the enemy is never going

to stop trying to advance, so we can't afford

to push it off and just say, well, it's out there

somewhere, and that it doesn't affect us. It

is time for every one of us in this community

to develop stronger convictions and to draw firmer

boundaries and to say, no more. I won't be intimidated

into silence or passivity. And I have to tell

you, I was a little afraid about preaching that

message last Sunday with that tone. But afterwards,

I was incredibly encouraged by the response from

this congregation. I think we're all a little

bit fed up with what we see happening around

us. And then it made me think and pray as I was

preparing for today's message. Okay, Lord, perhaps

you have brought this church family together

for such a time as the moment that we're living

in. And I don't just mean, Lord, maybe you brought

our church leadership together or our ministry

directors together. I mean every single member

of this church that you brought us together for

this moment. And my prayer is that last Sunday's

message wasn't just a bunch of talk. And now

that we got that off our chest, we feel better

and we can move on to the next thing. The church

tends to do that. We just move on to the next

thing, but we can't. That's not good enough.

My prayer is that each of you were convinced

to go home and to renew your thinking about the

times that we live in. That each of you were

convinced to go and establish new convictions

about your role in the spiritual battle for the

gospel and for the kingdom in this part of the

world. For every one of us to ask the question,

what is God calling me to do in my home? In my

family, at my school, in my private life, in

my public witness, in my local church, what steps

can I take that will put me in a posture to be

used by God as a vessel for his service to push

back against the wickedness of this age? Friends,

this is a battle that only gets won when a whole

army of Christ followers stops being lazy. stops

being passive or apathetic, and actually picks

up the spiritual weapons that we have been given

in Scripture to win that battle. So I will keep

praying that God will move us out of our comfortable

lives and start using us in powerful ways that

right now we can't even imagine. But with God,

all things are possible. We just have to be faithful.

So speaking of big moments in history, let's

turn our attention back to the book of Esther.

Let's grab our Bibles. And let's open up to Esther

Esther 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. Esther 4, we have come to a place

in this story where the table has been set in

terms of the historical context. The table has

been set in terms of describing this impending

crisis that the Jewish people are facing within

the Persian Empire. And so, good news, from this

point forward, we can bite off some larger chunks

of the story, move a little bit quicker. We're

going to do that even today. We're going to cover

all of chapter 4, and Lord willing, my plan for

next Sunday is to look at all of chapter 5. So

here's what we're going to do this morning. We're

going to just walk our way through the narrative

in chapter 4, try to understand what's really

going on here, and rather than just save all

the application to the end of the message, as

we go along, I'm going to make three important

observations that we learn in this part of the

story. So first, let's remember where we left

off at the end of chapter 3 since we took a Sunday

off last week. Everybody's favorite villain,

Haman. Man, you guys, you're on it. He has become

aware that Mordecai, a Jewish official who serves

at the king's gate there in the palace of Susa,

that this Mordecai will not bow down to him,

will not honor him as the chief vizier under

the Persian king Xerxes. And Haman is furious

about this disrespect, but he's been able to

conceal his anger because he sees an opportunity

here, not just to get rid of Mordecai, but to

have the entire Jewish population in the kingdom

of Persia exterminated. So just at the right

time, Haman approaches the king with this indictment

and a proposal. He tells the king that there

is a certain people within the kingdom, he doesn't

mention the Jews by name, just that there is

a certain people within the empire who refuse

to submit to the king's law and that they can't

be trusted. And he says, it's not in the best

interest of the king to let them remain. And

so Haman proposes a plan. He's smart. Not only

does he bring a problem, he brings a solution.

He says to the king, I will give you a large

sum of money if you will simply proclaim a certain

day in the future, get this now, when any...

Persian citizen can kill any Jew that they encounter

and confiscate their property. It's like the

movie The Purge. You get a whole day to do whatever

you want to murder and to confiscate property.

And to Xerxes, who has absolutely no problem

with this type of morality, it sounds like a

win -win. His Persian subjects can earn a financial

reward. A huge cut of all those confiscations

is going to come back into the imperial treasury.

And most importantly, they'll be rid of this

rebellious tribe of people who are an obvious

problem. And so Xerxes gives Haman his signet

ring and a blank check to do as he pleases with

the authority and blessing of the king. And Haman's

edict goes out to every province in the kingdom,

and word goes out, here it is, in less than a

year, on the 13th of Adar, the entire Jewish

population are open targets to be murdered and

robbed. I asked a couple weeks ago, because we

tend to read the Bible and we just go, oh, okay,

well, we kind of know this story. We read right

past it. Stop for a second. Can you imagine if

a law like this passed in America? That on a

single day in the future, all of our neighbors

who live around us, all of our fellow citizens

would have the authority and the blessing of

our government to murder professing Christians

and then to take our homes and possessions. Don't

gloss over the utter wickedness of this story,

the terrifying nature of this edict. This is

a dystopian nightmare. And at the end of chapter

three, we're told that the king is so pleased

by Haman's plan. Then he invites him to the palace

to sit down and have a drink with him. While,

of course, the entire city of Susa is in a state

of chaos and confusion over this news that they

are now hearing. So let's look at chapter 4 now

and see what happens next. Verse 1, when Mordecai

learned all that had been done, meaning all the

details of this plot, he tore his clothes, put

on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the

midst of the city. and wailed loudly and bitterly.

He went as far as the king's gate, for no one

was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth.

Now you can tell by the language here that this

is not just, you know, I'm just sad. I'm not

just, it's not simple mourning. This is what

we would call bitter anguish. This is the kind

of agony that tears at your soul. And so Mordecai

does something that sounds a little bit strange

to our modern ears, but it has a long and important

history in Jewish culture. He puts on sackcloth

and ash. This is an ancient practice that you'll

find in every era of Israel's history. Go back

to the time of the patriarchs in Genesis 37.

Remember when Jacob thought his son Joseph, his

favorite son Joseph, was dead? It says he tore

his clothes and he put on sackcloth. He was in

this deep state of anguish. In the time of the

kings, you see Hezekiah faced with the news that

Sennacherib of Assyria is threatening to lay

siege to his city, Jerusalem. And he goes and

he appeals to Yahweh for help and it says he

tore his clothes, he covered himself with sackcloth

and he entered the house of the Lord. So Hezekiah

comes in in this humble state into the great

temple and he lays out this threat against Jerusalem

and he prays with great desperation that God

would rescue them. Prior to the exile, Jeremiah

tells the unrepentant people of Judah that the

Babylonian army is coming. And he says to them,

put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as

for an only son, a lamentation most bitter, for

suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. And

then one last example from the exile period.

When Daniel had finished studying Jeremiah's

prophecy of the 70 years of exile, he realizes

that the time of Judah's redemption is near.

And he says, so I gave my attention to the Lord

God to seek him by prayer and supplications with

fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. So we see a whole

number of motivations in scripture for this sackcloth

and ash. It's to express grief. It's to mourn

over a heavy loss. It's to seek God's face. in

a time of great need. It's to express humility

and sorrow and repentance and sometimes to prepare

for God to move in a new way. And so the whole

point is to make yourself uncomfortable when

you put on sackcloth, right? The roughness of

the material is literally meant to scratch your

skin, to intensify the physical pain. Why? So

that you remember to pray. You remember to seek

his face, to remember to repent. And then the

ashes, you would take them and sprinkle them

on your head, and it was meant to symbolize your

mortality, the fleeting nature of life. After

all, that's how we all return, right? Ash is

to ashes, dust to dust. So for Mordecai here

in verse 1, we're not told exactly the motivation

for what he's doing, but one thing is obvious,

he is in great emotional pain. And why wouldn't

he be? The news that he and his people are facing

annihilation. Now, whether he's repentant or

not, it doesn't say, Clearly that's possible.

Whether he's appealing to Yahweh for rescue,

we're also not told, but that seems like a reasonable

thing to assume. And the interesting factor here

is that Mordecai must have known, at least in

part, that it was his conduct which has brought

about this edict, the fact that he wouldn't bow

down to Haman. Can you imagine how heavy that

would be on your heart to think, I'm partially

responsible for this? It's put him in uttermost

distress. He is wailing, picture this, wailing

in the sackcloth and ash in the middle of the

city for everybody to see. And then in verse

three, we're told that as Mordecai was mourning,

news of the decree was spreading. Verse three,

in each and every province where the command

and decree of the king came, there was great

mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping,

and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

Guys, this is a national tragedy. For the Jewish

population in Persia. What are they going to

do? Okay, so time for observation number one.

Let's talk about this idea of facing what appears

to us with our human eyes to be impossible situations.

Because this is one of them, right? And how many

times in scripture do we see God's people coming

up against this? What looks like impossible situations.

What do we do? Think about Abraham for a second.

You were going to have an heir with Sarah, but

you're 99 years old. Ah, okay. Moses and the

Israelites were escaping Pharaoh until, boop,

we run into what? The Red Sea. Now what? David

steps forward with a sling. Oh, what do I have

to do? I just have to kill a giant. No problem.

Daniel gets thrown into a den of hungry lions,

and he's going to survive how? These are impossible

situations. Elijah faces off against 450 prophets

of Baal. Talk about being outnumbered. How do

you prevail? The disciples look at a crowd of

5 ,000 people and Jesus says, go ahead, feed

them. Think about that. And now we hear in the

book of Esther, we have an edict of death that

is issued by an all -powerful king. He can do

anything he wants. How do you respond to that?

As we survey human history, we certainly can't

deny that there are many times when God's people

find themselves in peril. And if not in peril,

they find themselves suffering under trials.

They find themselves in very bleak situations.

And it's in those times that we are all tempted

to doubt God, to doubt his presence, to doubt

his care, or to doubt that he's good. And when

that happens, you guys, because it's going to

happen to all of us. It hasn't happened to you

yet. It's coming. Trust me. When it happens,

that is precisely when we fall back on what we

know to be true about God. not what we're feeling,

because feelings are going to lead us all over

the place, but what he has declared about himself

in his word and what he's told us about his love

and care for us. We know that he has said, I

will never leave you, my child. I will never

forsake you. But then we think, well, okay, all

right, that's great, Lord, but then why are you

putting me through this? Why am I exposed to

trouble? Why am I facing this impossible situation?

And the answer is, oh, the Lord's doing so many

things. We can't see it, but he's doing so many

things. And because he's doing those things,

they're always good for us. That's something

we don't often think about. If he's doing something

in our lives through difficulty, it's going to

be good for us because they come from his hand.

Again, we just have to renew our thinking in

those moments and go back to his word. Now, he

may want to produce in you greater dependence

in the midst of an impossible situation. Sometimes

he puts us in situations where we have absolutely

no choice but to come to him for the strength

and the wisdom we need to overcome. He'll put

us in those desperate situations so that we'll

depend on him more. Augustine wrote about this.

He said, God orders what we cannot do so that

we'll know exactly what to ask of him. Think

about that. Or secondly, he may want to stretch

your faith and perseverance. Sometimes God wants

you to die to something that's not good for you.

And only trial and suffering is gonna get you

to that place. And in the midst of that trial

and suffering, he says, will you trust me with

this? He'll often put us in difficult situations

to move us into a place he needs us to be so

that we can fulfill his purposes in us. Even

though in that moment, it might not make any

sense to us or to our human minds, but he says,

look, walk with me through this. I haven't left

you and you'll see in the end. Or he may want

us to learn that, you know what? His grace is

sufficient, and that's enough. Remember, we're

not given guarantees in Scripture that life is

going to go smoothly. There's no guarantee that

we get to live like a hallmark life, right, where

everything just ends up peachy keen. It doesn't

work that way. In fact, I know some of the best

brothers and sisters who right now are suffering,

going through amazing trials, trials that I can't

even imagine in my own life. And yes, God does

have an eternal purpose in those things. He says

that in his word. We have to trust him in that.

He always does, even if we can't see it with

our human eyes. But no matter the severity of

the storm, scripture tells us over and over again

that God's grace will carry you through whatever

it is you need to face. And what Mordecai is

facing here is pretty severe. So let's go back

to our story. Look at verse four. Now it's interesting.

Verse four tells us, even though the Jews throughout

Persia are in great mourning because they're

seeing and hearing about this edict, The queen

is isolated in the palace and she has no idea

what's happening. Verse four, then Esther's maidens

and her eunuchs came and told her and the queen

writhed in great anguish. Now, what is it that

they told her that made her so upset? We're going

to find out they actually didn't tell her about

the decree. They only told her that Mordecai

was in distress in the city. He's wailing in

sackcloth. So at this point, she has no idea

why that's happening. why her older cousin is

in this desperate state. But she's clearly upset

by it. And then what comes next is a bit surprising

to us, but it's also logical based on the lack

of information that the queen has. It says, she

sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might

remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not

accept them. So as queen, she's like, let's just

fix the problem. My cousin, whom I love, is making

a spectacle of himself. Let's fix it, right?

So here's some clothes, Mordecai. Just put these

on. Stop what you're doing and come back to the

king's gate. But Mordecai, who knows the full

situation, says no. He refuses the clothing.

And that had to come as a great shock to Esther,

and now her concern rises. Now she knows something

really terrible is going on, but she cannot just

leave the palace. So in verse five, she takes

action. Verse five says, then Esther summoned

Hathok from the king's eunuchs, whom the king

had appointed to attend her, and ordered him

to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and

why it was. In other words, go out there and

figure out why he's doing this, because I don't

have a clue. Verse 6, so Hathak went out to Mordecai

to the city square in front of the king's gate

and Mordecai told him all that had happened to

him and the exact amount of money that Haman

had promised to pay the king's treasuries for

the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him

a copy of the text of the edict which had been

issued in Susa for their destruction. And what

comes next now is Mordecai's instructions to

this eunuch, what he wants him to do. That he

might show Esther and inform her of what? Of

all the details about what Haman was plotting

to do. And get this, with the approval of her

husband, which must have come as a shock to her.

And here comes the command from Mordecai to order

her to go into the king. to implore his favor

and to plead with him for her people. So Mordecai's

issuing this order to Esther through this servant.

But look at those last two words, her people.

Uh -oh, uh -oh, her people. Remember, up to this

point, Mordecai had told Esther, don't tell anybody

you're Jewish. We're gonna keep that a secret.

But guess what? This can't continue. The end

of that has come. Esther is going to have to

now go into Xerxes and reveal the truth about

her identity as a Jew, which is likely to be

a massive surprise to him. And if you know anything

about ancient Near East history, kings don't

like to be surprised. But there's even more.

After she tells her husband that she's Jewish,

She's then going to have to intercede for three

quarters of a million people by trying to sway

the king's favor away from his most trusted advisor

to herself. Yikes. Put yourself in her shoes.

How overwhelming. How scary would this situation

be? This is all coming down on our head at one

time. First, my cousin is publicly in distress.

Then I learned that my people are being threatened

with annihilation. Now I'm told that this secret

that I've had, that I've been told to keep, I've

got to let that out. I've got to drop that on

my husband, who's also my king, and he has the

power of life and death over me. And I have to

hope that he loves me enough to hear me out and

to choose me over Haman. Pretty simple, right?

Verse 9, Hathor came back and related Mordecai's

words to Esther. Now let's pause there for a

second observation. Guys, God is in the business

of raising up the most unlikely people to accomplish

his will. If you think about it, Esther has some

things in common with both Joseph and David.

Think about this. All three of those biblical

characters come out of obscurity and get raised

up into positions of great power where God uses

them to bring about his purposes. But in all

three of those cases, who would have seen it

coming? Joseph. finds himself sold into slavery

by his own brothers. He's a slave, ends up in

Egypt. He's falsely accused of a crime. He is

thrown in prison. And guys, based on ancient

history, odds were that's where he would die,

right? Alone and forgotten in that dungeon. But

instead, God raises him up to become the second

most powerful man in Egypt under Pharaoh. Only

God does something like that. David. the least

likely son of a farmer and a sheep herder from

a know -nothing town called Bethlehem. And then

he becomes a man who shepherds animals in the

wilderness until God says, I anoint you king

of Israel. Who would have seen that coming? And

now we have Esther. She's not from a noble family

of Persia. She doesn't come from wealth or power.

She's an orphan. She's an orphan and a Jew living

in a foreign land. She is destined to become

a nobody in history until God moves the king's

heart to select her from among thousands of women

in the Persian kingdom to become queen. That's

only a God thing. That's it. And this is why

I wanted to begin our service this morning, Ken

read from 1 Corinthians 1, where we're told what

kind of people God chooses to carry out his will.

And guess what? It's people like you and me.

And you may not like what... the language that's

used here, but this is what God says. He says,

consider your calling, brothers and sisters.

Not many of you were wise according to worldly

standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not

many of you were of noble birth. But God chose

what is foolish in this world to shame the wise.

He chose what's weak in the world to shame the

strong. He chose what is low and despised in

the world, even things that are not, to bring

to nothing things that are. Why? He says, so

that no human being might boast in the presence

of God. And because of him, you are in Christ

Jesus. Now, again, some people get offended by

that language. I don't want to be called foolish

and weak and despised. But Paul would disagree

with that. I will boast about my weaknesses,

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12. I will boast about

them. Why? So that the power of Christ may dwell

in me. I am content with weaknesses, he says,

with insults, with distresses, with persecutions,

with difficulties for the sake of Christ. For

when I'm weak, then I'm strong. God raises up

whomever he chooses, the weak and foolish things

of this world. Do you think you're too obscure

to be used by God? Has that thought ever run

through your head? I'm a nobody. I can't be used.

I'm just a regular Joe or Jane. I'm too weak.

Be careful, God might surprise you. Let's go

back to the story. Look at verse 10. So Esther

receives this shocking news from Mordecai. Then

Esther spoke to Hathak and ordered him to reply

to Mordecai. So this is what she's gonna send

back. All the king's servants and the people

of the king's provinces know. Okay, so catch

this. Everybody knows what's about to be said.

This is common knowledge. That any man or woman

who comes to the king into the inner court who

is not summoned, he, the king, has but one law,

that he be put to death. So it's a capital crime

to approach the king uninvited. Unless, unless

what? Unless the king holds out to him the golden

scepter. so that he may live, so that his life

might be spared. Now, that's really bad news,

but then it gets worse. Esther reports to Mordecai,

and I have not been summoned. I've not been invited

to come into the king for these last 30 days.

So this is subtle, but notice what's happening

here. Esther gets the news from Mordecai, but

she hesitates to immediately obey his instructions.

Maybe for the first time in her life, we've seen

how obedient she is to Mordecai, but for the

first time, she hesitates about obedience. And

can you blame her? I mean, Mordecai's asking

a lot here. And we have to remember, Esther is

still a young woman with not a lot of life experience,

and she's being asked to carry this huge burden

to put her very life at risk. And one of the

many things I find interesting about this part

of the story is that comment about the 30 days.

Apparently, the life of a queen in Persia was

not one of great intimacy with the king. 30 days.

Wives, can you imagine? My husband doesn't want

to see me. He doesn't want to see me in a month.

Historically, we know that Xerxes had many wives

and concubines. So already, Esther is learning

what Queen Vashti must have found out, that being

queen is not that great of a gig. It was largely

a ceremonial role that she had to endure while

her husband ran around summoning all kinds of

women and sleeping with them. And she's out here

a month later going, yep, I don't even know how

he feels about me. You want me to go see him?

I'm not even sure he cares about me. I haven't

seen him in a month. The truth is, in that culture,

the king can do as he pleases. Nobody questions

him. And that fact is what makes the prospect

of going in to see him. So unpredictable and

so dangerous for Esther. Now verse 13 is interesting.

See if you can discern Mordecai's tone. So he

gets news back from Esther. She's hesitating.

I'm not sure I can do this. And then Mordecai

told them to reply to Esther, do not imagine

that you and the king's palace can escape any

more than all the Jews. Is he upset? Do you think

he's upset at Esther? Put yourself in Mordecai's

sandals now. He's watched over this girl since

she was a child. He was with her as she grew

up. He gave her counsel and instruction. He protected

her along the way. She's obeyed him all the way

along this path. But now there's this physical

distance between him and her. She's deep in the

women's quarters in the palace. He can't talk

to her, and she can't talk to him. And as a dad

myself, I can feel this in my bones, the idea

that you've lost connection with your daughter.

Your ability to speak counsel into her life is

now limited. It's a terrifying thought. So when

Mordecai gives her what in verse eight is called

an order to go into the king and beg for his

mercy and the answer comes back, well, there's

a law says that I can't do that. And you know,

the king hasn't called me in 30 days. You can

sort of understand Mordecai's tone here. So he

writes back and I'm just going to paraphrase

him. He writes back, look, Hadassah, don't think

for a moment that by avoiding doing this difficult

thing that you'll be safe. Just because you're

inside that palace, Haman is targeting all of

us for death and he will come for you too. Mordecai

wants her to think carefully about this. The

most dangerous thing she can do in this moment

is just, you know, close your eyes, do nothing

and hope it all goes away because it's not going

away. Sometimes we do that, right? We're like,

if I don't look at it, if I don't deal with it,

it'll go away. This one's not going away. Now

here comes the famous phrase at the end of verse

14. But first, look at the first half of the

verse. This is a difficult statement to interpret

and there's all kinds of scholarly opinions out

there as to what it means. Verse 14 says, again,

this is part of Mordecai's response to Esther.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief

and deliverance will arise for the Jews from

another place and you and your father's house

or you and your family will perish. And that,

Statement looks a little odd there, doesn't it?

I think the best way to understand what Mordecai

is saying is this. Hadassah, if you refuse my

order to go into the king and you choose instead

to stay silent, here's what I know. That God

will find another way to protect and save his

people who are scattered all over the nations.

But here in Persia, we will all perish. And you

and your family, everything that's left of your

bloodline, which is me and you, we will be gone.

That's pretty heavy, huh? So there's a measure

of faith in Mordecai's words here. I think he

trusts that Yahweh is gonna fulfill his promise

that God will always sustain a remnant of his

people Israel, always. And if he and Esther fail

in Persia, God will still sovereignly work in

the world to preserve his people in other parts

of the ancient Near East. He will preserve the

line of Messiah. But right now, Hadassah, You

may very well be the vessel that God has raised

up and put you in this position to save all the

Jews in Persia. That's basically what Mordecai

says in this very famous second half of verse

14. And who knows whether you've not attained

royalty for such a time as this. Could it be,

Esther, that God has put you in that palace precisely

because of the clear and present danger that

our people are facing? What would you do if you're

a young girl overwhelmed by all of this? What

would you do? How would you respond? You can

picture Mordecai saying, Hadassah, think about

the odds of this. Do you think this is chance

that you're sitting in the palace in Susa? This

isn't chance or fate or luck. God has put you

there for this reason. Now, will you have the

courage and the wisdom to accept that truth?

from God's hand, that providence in your life,

and go and do his will. What a challenge, right?

Verse 15, then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,

go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa

and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three

days, night or day. I and my maidens also will

fast in the same way. So as many of you have

told me in recent weeks, Up to chapter 3, I've

been really hard on Esther. I've been trying

to break down some of the legends and myths we

think about her. I've been kind of tough on her.

But now I'm going to commend her. This is a good

and godly response to Mordecai's challenge. She

seems to have acknowledged Mordecai's point about

God's providence and the position that she is

in to be a vessel of service for God. And she

begins where she should begin. We all got to

start fasting. We've got to start fasting, all

of us. You, cousin, gather all the Jews in Susa,

all do the same here in the palace, and let's

seek the Lord's face. That is the right response.

Now, let's talk about fasting for a moment. First

of all, I realize that the word prayer isn't

explicitly mentioned here in verse 16, but I

think we should consider implied. And the reason

I say that is throughout the Old Testament, those

two things are always linked together. You don't

see, well, we prayed one day, we fasted another,

but we didn't do them together. They're always

linked together. It's a given. Because just abstaining

from food as a purely physical act has no spiritual

impact whatsoever. It can help your body, physical

body in a lot of ways, but not your soul. But

if you combine fasting or any form of self -denial

with repentance and prayer, a number of things

will happen according to Scripture. When those

hunger pangs hit, it's going to cause you to

remember to pray. And you're going to find yourself

in deeper communion with the Lord. Fasting humbles

a man or a woman. It causes you to lean into

the Lord, to depend on him more. And that means

that the fasting should be employed whenever

there's a great sense of need, or in this case,

really a sense of helplessness. Only the Lord

can rescue us. We should go and seek his face.

That seems logical, right? Now, as a caution,

fasting is not a guarantee that you're gonna

get an answer to your prayer more if you don't

fast. Guys, we don't have the power to manipulate

God or his will, but fasting along with prayer

when it's done from a place of honesty is indicating

to God your sincerity and the critical nature

of the situation you're in. And the more critical

the situation is, the more appropriate it is

for you not just to pray, but to pray and fast.

At least that's what Jesus tells us in Matthew

17. Remember that funny little story where the

disciples try to drive out a demon and they can't

do it? And Jesus says what? This kind doesn't

go out except by prayer and fasting. So when

you're up against a uniquely big challenge, it

has to be met with an equally committed step

of faith. And so we pray and we fast. So Esther

does what she should do. She turns to prayer

and fasting, and then she doesn't stop there.

She takes action. Look at the rest of the verse.

And thus I will go into the king, which is not

according to the law. In other words, even though

it violates the king's law, look what she says.

And if I perish, I perish. So she's counted the

cost of obedience, hasn't she? She's now willing

to cross Xerxes' law in order to put God first

and lay down her life if necessary. Understand

the weight of this, you guys. She is committing

to this incredibly difficult thing without a

prophetic vision, without a word from the Lord.

You know, sometimes in scripture, well, the Lord

told me to go do this. Man, you can go with 100

% confidence, right? Because you got a word from

the Lord. She doesn't have anything miraculous

here. No prophetic vision, no word from the Lord.

She has no real biblical promise to look to that

guarantees her safety. So she doesn't know how

this is gonna end, only that it seems Mordecai's

point has gotten through. She could potentially

die if she goes in to see the king, but if she

doesn't, she's certainly gonna die as well as

the rest of the people. And she counts the cost

of that obedience. Man, this is a young woman

who's being forced to grow up really fast and

to make some really weighty decisions. These

are decisions that make any of us, even experienced

believers, tremble with fear. Okay, final observation,

and we'll close with this. Number three. God

has raised up Esther precisely for this time

and for this moment and for this need. And what

a story, right? Who could have predicted it?

If you'd known Esther when she was a child, who

could have predicted that she'd be in this position?

None of us. I once read a great quote, and I've

looked for it. I wish I could find the citation

on it. But it goes something like this. The most

impactful service in the kingdom of God almost

always comes by assignment, not by choice. Think

about that. The most impactful service in the

kingdom of God almost always comes by assignment,

not by choice. And the reason I've always remembered

that quote is because it's true in my life. God

has shown me that that's true in my life. If

you knew me. The first 35 years of my life, never

did I think I would ever be in ministry, let

alone be a preacher of God's word. Never on my

radar until God started doing unimaginable things

in my life to move me to the place he wanted

me to be. And even when God moves in that kind

of way, I found that for most people, they think

they know what service in the kingdom looks like.

They think they know what they would choose,

but then God moves, it ends up looking very different.

than what they planned. Certainly not how they

would have scripted it. And again, that's true

in my life and in Tanya's life. At our age now,

looking back, this is not what we expected. But

it's not about us. And we're convinced that we're

absolutely where God wants us to be. He brought

us here. And I can't explain that other than

his providential hand. I guarantee you when Athanasius

was a 30 -year -old deacon at the Council of

Nicaea in the fourth century, He never would

have thought that God would call him to battle

the Arian heresy for the sake of the church for

40 years and to spend 18 of those years in exile

outside the kingdom in the deserts of Egypt.

But that's what he had to do to stand for the

truth. There's no way Augustine ever thought

that he would turn his back on a life of philosophy

and study at the age of 32 and take upon himself

monasticism. In a life of religious controversy,

suffering, in the midst of brilliant writing

and teaching, and then die as an old man in the

midst of a barbarian invasion of his hometown.

How could Martin Luther have envisioned the whirlwind

that he would cause by simply nailing 25 hard

questions on a door, questioning the Roman church?

There's no way he could have imagined that he

would someday have to stand alone against the

full force of the Roman church and the papacy.

And then be taken away and hidden away for his

own protection because they wanted to kill him

so that he could translate the Bible into German.

None of those three men asked to bear the weight

of those responsibilities. It was assigned to

them by God. It was given to them by God. And

because of God's calling, none of them had the

privilege of living comfortable lives. We count

the cost. If any of those guys had been given

a choice, I doubt any of them would say, yeah,

Lord, put me through all these difficulties,

please. All that suffering and sacrifice, give

me more of that. I want to take more risks that

put my life in danger. Nobody ever says that.

They all lived hard lives, but man, did God use

them to advance his kingdom. So what about your

gifts and calling? That's the big idea of the

great statement in verse 14. In Esther 4, what

about your gifts and calling? What are they?

What about your talents? What about your influence?

What about your career, your finances, your personality,

your position in your workplace, your passions,

anything that you do well? They're not yours

by accident. Everything that you have has come

from the hand of God, not by accident. They come

from the gifting and the shaping that God has

done in your life and is still doing in your

life. Ephesians 2 .10 has this beautiful truth.

It says that each one of you is God's workmanship.

Each one of you is a product of God's sovereign

hands, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose,

to walk in the good works that he's prepared

for you in advance. Every one of us. Are you

being faithful? to pay attention to that truth

and to respond. All you have to do is follow

the example of Esther and the other saints that

I've already mentioned this morning. Hear the

call, weigh the cost, step into it by faith.

Hear the call, weigh the cost, step into it by

faith. And then take, I like this phrase, take

the rollercoaster ride for Jesus. You know, you

get in a rollercoaster, it takes you wherever

it wants to go. You just grip on and go. And

that's sometimes what it feels like to be a vessel

of service for the king. You hold on and you

go. It's not always easy. It's not always comfortable.

It's never boring. And the rewards at the end

are glorious beyond your imagination. So friends,

never doubt that you can be a vessel of service

for God. Did he not raise up Joseph and David

and Esther from out of nowhere to great heights?

There are no nobodies in the kingdom of God.

I want everybody to hear that clearly. There

are no nobodies in the kingdom of God. And who

knows, perhaps you are here at Oak Hill for such

a time as this. Let's pray. Father, when we look

at a story like this, it's so tempting to just

say, oh, that's so long ago. And that is such

a unique situation that doesn't really apply

to my life. And I know, God, you would want to

say to every person here this morning that, yes,

you can do those works in the lives of simple

people like us, foolish, weak, all of these things,

Lord, if we would just be faithful to respond.

And so I pray, Lord, that for anybody here this

morning who in the past has thought, I'm a nobody,

I don't matter, I don't have gifts. Lord, would

you help them renew their thinking? And would

you help them get in the battle? Every single

hand is needed. Every soldier in the fight is

needed. And so, Lord, don't let us be passive.

Don't let us be apathetic or lazy. But call us

higher, Lord, and do a work in our hearts that

we might see that more clearly and then give

us the faith that we need from you to step into

it. Lord, I have no doubt that you have great

things to do in the life of our church. You have

great things to do in this community we live

in. Would you use us as vessels for your service,

God? And when you do, Lord, we'll give you all

the glory for it. Thank you for our time in your

word this morning. We love you. We praise you

in Christ's name.