We are looking at the book of Esther Chapter One. The LORD intended to
help the Jews and get the corrupt Haman and his buddies sorted out, since He
knew what was coming. The Lord is never taken by surprise and the children of
Abraham, whether physical as in the nation of Israel or spiritual as in us the
body of Christ, are always His primary purpose why He does what He does. He
wants everybody to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (1Timothy 2:4).
Therefore the LORD had to make space for Esther to move
into a position where she could be of help to her fellow countrymen. As with
Joseph the Lord needed an insider in enemy territory. For that to be
accomplished, Vashti had to be removed from her position as queen. I may get
some disagreement from readers in this regard, since the question is the usual:
Did the LORD arrange for Vashti to be removed as queen or did He only use this
opportunity, which opened in any case, to get Esther into this strategic
position? One day we will have to ask Him, for the LORD is sovereign and He may
do as He pleases according to His own standards of love and righteousness.
The point is, Vashti probably did not understand why
this had to happen. She could have had many valid reasons why she did not want
to obey king Xerxes’ commands. She could have felt that she was host to the
women to whom she gave the banquet and it was not appropriate to leave them, or
she could have known what the king was like when he was drunk and did not want
to face the humiliation among all the drunken men. Fact is, she was sacked as
queen and probably felt it was completely unfair. There she was acting the good
one and king Xerxes in her assertion was wrong, yet she drew the short straw.
How many times did something happen in our lives and we
felt it being not right and we blamed God for being unloving and unkind and not
caring and so on and so forth. Joseph had to feel the same, as we have
mentioned in our previous message on this topic. We must never forget that
everything the Lord does is for the sake of His greater plan. The saints of old
were violently persecuted so we could have religious freedom, one person in a family
or in a persecuted church may suffer, so that another could be saved or get an
open door.
In the persecuted church leaders often get arrested and
when they end up in prison, they share the gospel and many people get saved.
Because of that, they are moved to another prison where they just repeat the
process and more people get exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the time when
they got arrested neither they nor their families probably understood why it
had to happen. The church members probably reasoned that they were of such
incredible value to the church and well loved, and look now. They may ask why God
allowed them to be arrested. But God had a greater plan. Maybe He had another
leader in mind for the congregation that would take them into another phase of
His plan with the church.
We often see in the movies how one hero distracts the
enemy to allow for another hero to accomplish the goal they have set before
them, and often the first hero suffers because of that. That is the way the
Lord also works strategically. We do not always understand what He is doing and
do not see the end purpose. “Now we see but a poor reflection
as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I am fully known,” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
If we ask the Holy Spirit to help us
think the way the LORD thinks and if we obey His commands so He could reveal
Himself to us (John 14:21), we will not panic when things
do not go the way we anticipated. We will know the Lord knows what He is doing
and we will rest in Him.
Lord, I want to obey you in a close
relationship, so you could reveal yourself to me.
We support a mission. Have a look at the work, which you
may become part of HERE. You may also want to look at the Website.
Thank you Lord that your Word went
out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you
empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which
you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may
benefit by it.
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