Esther Chapter 6 Verse 1

· Some folks make a huge point about the fact that the word “God” doesn’t appear anywhere in the Book of Esther and I’m one of them! Why? Because God is everywhere in the Book of Esther! Just like in my life and in yours. I can’t see Him but I can see Him. I can’t hear Him but I can hear Him! I know…, that sounds crazy!

· Walk outside on a windy day and watch the trees bow down! If you’re out east watch the tumbleweeds sweep across the fields and roads. I can’t see the wind but I can see the wind! The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance (it is and becomes something materially tangible)…, faith is the substance of things hoped for…” Hope translates, transforms from an intangible discipline to an actual, touchable, appreciable result in a life… This is what hope in Jesus does. This is what faith becomes!

· “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen!” So, we see Him but we don’t see Him? How, why? We hope, we trust, we walk by faith and not by sight and although we do not see Him now, the results come, the evidence arrives, the substance substantiates and things not seen in the time of trust become tangible objective discernable and actual results as God shows Himself perfectly faithful time and time again! There are seasons of sowing and there are seasons of reaping…

· This is the backstage pass revelation of the Book of Esther! The king is unable to sleep?! He has been spending quality time with his wife who is serving him and really ministering to him with kindness, respect and honor. Last night, he was at a banquet of wine that she threw for him. He should be resting with a smile on his face… Everything is going his way… and yet… he can’t sleep!?

· God you Sly Fox, You! HA! This sounds just like Him. Psalm 127:2 says that God is the giver of sound sleep… And we have example after example in the Bible where God would keep folks from sleeping because He has something for them to hear or to see… Add this to all of the events we have already seen unfold in this book that we KNOW is the hand of God on Esther’s situation… And boy is it about to become even more evident!

· The point is, we have the luxury of looking into these pages and reading these words and knowing that Xerxes couldn’t sleep, knowing what God is doing and what He is going to do… And Esther doesn’t. She is probably praying. She is probably anxious. She is probably planning and preparing… She is probably doing all that she can do to enable the survival of her people… BUT WE KNOW AND SEE AND HEAR God in that we can hop from place to place and are told what everyone is doing. Not her. And in our lives, same for us… But God is at work! Believing and hoping in that truth is our job and that is what it means to walk by faith!

· So, Xerxes can’t sleep. Doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to discern that his lack of rest is a spiritual affect. And, he just so happens to decide to want to have the books of records read to him… Wonder where he got that inclination? So, look what happens…

Esther Chapter 6 Verse 2

· It just so happens that the servant of the king brings to him the exact chronicle that contains the account of Mordecai saving the king’s life! Yea, God is nowhere in this book! Better said, God is NOW HERE everywhere in this book! He is the omnipresent King of kings and Lord of Lords… There’s actually no issue or circumstance of your life that God is not actively involved in… There are just some that we (me/I am not) aren’t trusting Him in….

· Now super interesting… God has a similar book of remembrance of certain people’s actions towards Him. It’s mentioned in Malachi 3:16. It is written there, “Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; So, a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name.” What’s that!?

· God doesn’t need any reminders… He has perfect memory… What is this book? I submit to you that this is the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

· The Lamb’s Book of Life is the Passport to Heaven. And in it is written names, we know that… Jesus said in Revelation 3:5, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” And it could very well be that walking by faith in accordance with Malachi 3:16, a full account of how we truly honored God will be given…

· This is the objectivity/announcement/reward of substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Walking by faith. Malachi 3:16, breaking it down in the Hebrew, essentially says that the Lord takes note and records the works even of the righteous and what He specifically takes note of is when we honor God…, “Those who feared the Lord…” When we fellowship together building each other up, “Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another…” And when we trust Him. “Those who fear the Lord and mediate on His name…”

· Meditate on His name in the Hebrew construction of that statement means to observe and trust His Word. Go look at it in the Hebrew. The word translated for us “name” is the Hebrew word “Sem,” and it literally means one’s report or reputation. God’s integrity! This is the mark of someone who is a Passport holder to Paradise! You trust God and believe Him and it is accounted unto you for righteousness! AND, the whole/every story is recorded alongside your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life!

Esther Chapter 6 Verses 3 – 4

· Oh really!? It just so happens that the king can’t sleep. It just so happens that he calls for the book of the records of the chronicles be read to him. His servant just so happens to open to the account of Mordecai. It just so happens that the king asks what’s been done for him. It just so happens that the king’s servant knows the answer is nothing. It just so happens that the king asks them to look and see who is in the court and it just so happens that Haman is there…

· That’s seven “It just so happens” in four verses… Now, I’m not giving you this in such a way that any of this will make it easy to trust the Lord when you are in a season of worry, anxiety, need or fear. Faith isn’t about the overwhelming presence of peace. It’s about being still during a time of placelessness and trusting in the Lord! Its still difficult. Seasons where faith is required to get through are tough… But hopefully this helps! God is faithful! He neither sleeps nor slumbers… He will perfect that which concerns me… I believe all of these things and it’s still hard…

· Whoever said believing is easy is selling you something… It takes prayer, patience, long suffering, forbearance… All of which are works of the Spirit within you and as they say, hindsight is 20/20… Jesus said to His disciples in John 13:7, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this…”

Esther Chapter 6 Verses 5 – 6

· In the list of the character flaws of Haman, close to the top of the list is his inability to truthfully assess himself. Who would the king want to honor more than him!!? He is personally responsible for destroying, or getting the king to allow him to destroy, an entire delineation of people in the king’s population.

· I have a million people who pay taxes, work the land, add economic value, are peaceful and profitable, and you will destroy that for me? Yea, you’re my number one for honoring… Haman remembers that which is good about himself and twists that which is bad, makes excuses for that which is bad, so that he honors himself. This lack of personal accountability creates his delusional version of reality…, all of us, sometimes (some all the time) do the same thing…

Esther Chapter 6 Verses 7 – 11

· Notice the absence of verse 10.5. The verse where Haman says, “but but but but but…” The king directed it, Haman, although there could be nothing more terrible for him personally, immediately obeys without deflection, defense, or denial. Haman is far more faithful to his king than I am to mine…. And it should not be so…

Esther Chapter 6 Verses 12 – 14

· Doesn’t sound good for old Haman… Read ahead if you like and we will continue next week to see the visible/substantial invisible hand of God!