ESTHER 4 HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Esther 4 How Big Is Your God

Well, this morning as we look at Esther chapter 4, I'd like to begin by asking you this question. How big is your God?

It's a good question to ask, and it's something for us to consider as we face the trials and circumstances and situations of our life. How big...

is your God. And as we begin to think about that, I want to give us a little bit of perspective and kind of zoom out a little bit on life, life here on planet Earth, and just get a little bit of perspective about how big God is. And so I want to zoom out and take a look at something that's 280 million light years old.

You probably don't look at things that far away that often. And so let me just remind you that we live in an incredible universe that God has created. And 280 million light years away, you have what you see on the screen here. This is a photograph taken by the Hubble Telescope.

And it's a very interesting section of the universe that scientists are just fascinated by. And of course, as you look on the screen, it's just absolutely beautiful to look at. And what you're looking at here is referred to as Stephen's Quintet.

And they call it that because, well, there was a guy named Stevens who found it back in 1877. He discovered it. And so it was named after him. But what this is, is a grouping of five galaxies all in one location visibly. Now,

One of these galaxies is actually much closer than the rest, but the other galaxies are very interesting because what's happening here in this picture, although it doesn't look like much action is going on, there's actually five galaxies in this picture, and several of them are in the process of colliding and merging, and there's all kinds of effects that are happening as a result of that.

So just to point out the five galaxies really quick here, I'm not going to say their names. They're like NRQ725, whatever. But so you have one there, and then you have one at the very top. You have a little one down here, and then you have this one here, which is actually two. You can see the bright spot and the bright spot.

That's the core of the galaxies, and they're in the process right now of colliding together and merging. And so, of course, this is 280 million light years away, so you probably haven't felt any shockwaves or anything. But there's a lot of action happening.

as this is going on, and it's fascinating to the scientists, and pretty cool to look at, and beautiful to behold. And this is happening a great distance away. Now, again, the question is, how big is your God? Because this is to remind us of the greatness of God's creation, and how big God really is. This is part of the universe that He has created, and there's these awesome things happening that we don't even know about, that aren't even really, you know,

affecting us in our day-to-day lives, but that God has in the works and things that are going on around us. Now, bringing it a little bit more close to home, but still amazing as you consider how big God is, here's a look at our own solar system. Now, this isn't, you know, to scale or anything like that, but this is to demonstrate a little bit of

the precision that God used as he created and set in place this planet that we live on.

We are 93 million miles away from our sun. And so as you look at this diagram of our solar system, it shows, you know, the different planets in our solar system. You have Mercury and then Venus and then Earth. And there we are, 93 million miles away from the sun. Now, this is important and interesting to consider because Earth sits in what they would refer to as the Goldilocks zone. You might remember the...

the story of Goldilocks and the bears, right? So she had the porridge, and one was too hot, and then the other one was too cold, and then there was the one that was just right, and then she was looking for the bed, and there was one too big, too small, and then one that was just right. And in a similar way, the conditions in which Earth sits, the placing, and all of the details that go into what makes this planet beautiful.

and beautiful and habitable is that it's just right. There's some very specific details about our earth that make it perfect for us to live on this planet. It's

If Earth was just a little bit farther away than it is now, well, things would become quickly unbearable here on Earth. If you could think about the next planet over, which is Mars. I always picture Mars as a really hot planet, right? But Mars actually is farther away from the sun. It's a pretty cold planet. The normal temperature on Mars is between 100 and 200 degrees below zero.

So it's a little bit colder than I'm used to here in Southern California, right? And so you can imagine if Earth was a little bit farther out, that would change our conditions quite drastically. Our oceans would be frozen, solid ice, and we wouldn't have the environment that we have today. Now, if the Earth was just a little bit closer, then the opposite would happen, and we would get heated up pretty quickly.

Venus, which is of course the second planet from the sun,

has a surface temperature normally of about 900 degrees. And so that's a little bit warmer than I am comfortable with. It would kind of ruin your day at the beach, you know, to have 900 degree weather and boiling water that you're trying to surf in, right? It wouldn't work very well. And so here we have in between, you know, these two planets, Mars and Venus, is this perfect zone, which is the right distance to have the right amount of heat for us to be able to have life here on this planet. Now,

In addition to our distance, our orbit plays a big factor in how we are able to survive on this planet as well. Now, the orbit that the Earth has around the Sun technically is an ellipse or an oval, but it's just slightly an oval. And it's almost perfectly round. And because of that, the temperature stays even. And if it was more oval, then you would have the dramatic colds and the dramatic heat,

as it came closer and farther away from the sun. But having it more, you know, like a true circle, there's a more even temperature around. Enough variance, you know, enough of an oval to have, you know, a little bit of variation, but close enough to a circle to have an evenness that makes life pleasant and habitable here on the earth. Then on top of that, you have the moon,

And the moon is not just decoration for the sky, but the moon plays an important part in our earth as well.

It plays a part in the interaction with the gravity and the tides of the ocean so that if we didn't have a moon, the ocean waters would just be still and become stale and kind of just be like big swamp essentially. But because of the interaction and the gravity and the effects and such, by the way, these are all things that I've read about. I don't know any of these things off the top of my head or anything. These aren't my area of expertise.

But just so you don't think I'm smarter than I am, okay? But so it allows the water to remain fresh and the tides to come and go and to keep things moving the way that they're supposed to. In addition to that, the orbit of the moon around the earth is a big factor in keeping the earth from wobbling and keeping the rotation going the way that it's supposed to. And that's another important part of

of our life here on earth, the rotation of the earth, and being able to rotate once every 24 hours, and the way that that heats and cools the earth and keeps the temperature much more normal and usable.

Another factor is the axis of the Earth, 23 and 1/2 degrees. It's tilted. That allows for our seasons and produces some very beneficial things for us as well. The size of the Earth has a huge effect, and the gravity that results, and keeping our atmosphere-- the contents of our atmosphere are not poisonous, but are healthy. And we're able to enjoy the atmosphere and breathe in the air. The water to land ratio plays a factor. Now, I'm just listing out a bunch of things now.

sharing with you, look, these are some of the details that were required, that are necessary for life to exist, for you and I to be here, here on a Sunday morning. And this is all part of God's design. God has planned this out. Our God is so big that he has created not just the universe where things are happening 280 million miles away, but here, right in our neck of the

Everything is in perfect detail and in its perfect spot for us to be able to have life here on this earth. Now, again, let me ask you, how big is your God?

We started out 280 million light years away. We brought it a little bit closer to home with the solar system. And now we're going to bring it even a little bit down farther, a little bit closer to home as we look at the example and the account here of Esther in Esther chapter 4, verses 7 through 17. And as we look at this passage, again, the title of the message and the question to ask today is, how big is your God? Because God is a master designer.

He's designed our universe, and there's some incredible things about it, great details that you could explore for lifetimes. He's designed our solar system, and he's designed our very lives. And you can see this reflected in the account of Esther in her life, and also in God's plan and the work that is accomplished here for the Jewish people.

But then, of course, we want to take it a little bit further than just Esther's life and look at God's design and plan for her and recognize that he works in a similar way with each one of us. How big is your God? Did you know that your God is big enough to be at work in your life with every detail? As I went through some of the details about planet Earth and the way it is able to survive today,

To that level of detail and even more, God is a part of your life and has plans for your life. And so we want to consider how big God is. And there's three points that we'll look at here in Esther chapter 4 to help us consider how big our God is. The first point that we'll look at is that God orchestrates all circumstances.

Now, these things that we're looking at here in the book of Esther chapter 4, they're kind of big concepts. They're big deals. And so we're just kind of scratching the surface with them. And some of them are familiar to you, I'm sure. But let me remind you and refresh you that God is in control. And God is on the throne in such a way that he orchestrates all circumstances. He doesn't just do little things here and there. He doesn't just do big things here and there.

But God is involved in arranging and orchestrating and using the things that are happening in all of our lives, all of our circumstances, and he's incorporating them into his own plans to accomplish his purposes.

And Esther is a really great book to see that unfold. Now, the book of Esther, just to kind of catch you up a little bit, beginning in chapter one of Esther, we have a situation where Ahasuerus, who is the king of Persia at the time, he has a kind of a falling out with his wife. He wants her to come to this party. She doesn't want to go. And so, you know, there's this rebellion that happens and he decides, you know what? You're no longer queen. And so he dethrones her as queen.

But a couple years go by, and he's kind of sorry he did that. He kind of overreacted at the time. And so he's without a queen, and the people suggest to him, his advisors suggest in chapter two, hey, why don't you have like a beauty contest? And we'll pick some of the beautiful ladies of the land, and we'll give them some beauty treatments for a year and allow them to just develop. And then you can pick which one you want, and she can be your new queen. And

And so in Esther chapter 2, they go through this process and Esther is the one who is selected and she becomes queen. In verse 17 of Esther chapter 2, it tells us that he sets the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Well, then heading into Esther chapter 3, we kind of switch gears a little bit.

And now a new person, a new character is introduced. His name is Haman. And so if this were a movie or a fictional book or something, this would be the antagonist, the bad guy of the story comes on the scene.

but it's not a story. This is actual events. And so Haman comes on the scene, and he is promoted by the king as well. And he becomes kind of second in charge of the land, second to King Ahasuerus. Now, the king commands, all right, Haman is in charge now. He's got this authority. Everybody needs to bow to him as he comes and goes. And so the people begin to do so.

But there's this man here in chapter 3, Esther chapter 3, talks about Mordecai. And he is the cousin of Esther who raised Esther after her parents died. And so he is there, but he will not bow to Haman. It's too close to worshiping someone, you know, instead of worshiping God. And so he refuses to bow because of his Jewish descent. And so Haman is really troubled by this.

He's so troubled by it that not only does he want to deal with Mordecai, but verse 6 of Esther chapter 3 tells us that Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom. So he's so offended by this because Mordecai won't bow. He's not just going to discipline Mordecai, but he's going to wipe out the whole race of the Jewish people in the whole kingdom.

And so he puts together this plan. He talks to the king. The king approves it and says, okay, yeah, let's go ahead and do what you want to do. And so they set a date. It's a couple months away. On this day, everybody has the authority, the approval of the king to kill, to annihilate, to destroy the Jewish people and take whatever they want from their possessions.

And so that's the plan. It's set into the law. It's set. The date is set. The event is going to happen. And the Jews are being threatened with annihilation because the people around them are legally allowed now at this date, at that time, to bring great destruction and take whatever they want. So that brings us now to Esther chapter 4. Mordecai, as he hears this,

the decree. He begins to mourn. Now, Esther and Mordecai stayed close. And so Esther hears about him mourning and being in sackcloth. And she sends messengers and they communicate back and forth here in chapter four. And Mordecai brings her up to speed. She hadn't heard about what Haman has done. And so Mordecai tells her what happened. And then he says, you know what you need to do, Esther? You need to go talk to the king and plead with the king for the life of your people, the Jewish people.

And Esther responds, you know, I don't know. It's really dangerous because everybody knows if you walk into the king's presence without being invited, the sentence is death. Unless he immediately holds out the scepter and forgives you, you're dead. And so it's really dangerous for me to go before the king in this way. And then Mordecai responds, and we'll look again at verse 13. Here's what it says. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther.

So Mordecai says, okay, I recognize it's dangerous for you to go before the king uninvited or unannounced, but you're going to be in danger either way. If you stay and don't go in, if you don't go talk to the king, just because you're in the king's palace is not going to protect you from this decree that has been made. Verse 14 says,

You got to love Mordecai. Great faith.

Mordecai has. And he's one of those who kind of comes alongside. Esther wasn't thinking this way. This wasn't part of her plan. She wasn't thinking she was, you know, an integral part of what God wanted to do. But Mordecai comes alongside of her. I would encourage you to make sure you got some Mordecais in your life. People who can come alongside and remind you, hey, let's think about what God wants to do in this situation. Mordecai tells Esther, hey, how do you know that God didn't raise you up

and allow you to become king and set you in this place for this very occasion, for this event, or for such a time as this. He challenges Esther. He says, what if all these circumstances are part of God's plan, that God orchestrated all these things so that you could have this authority and be in this position so that you could intervene on behalf of the Jewish people? And that is the reality of

that God has been orchestrating all of these things. Consider what J. Vernon McGee says as he describes this. He says, it's obvious that Esther did not accidentally win a beauty contest. She was not accidentally the one who became queen. She was there for a very definite purpose, and God has been arranging this all the time. God has been arranging this the whole time.

All these events, everything has come to this point where now she is in the position that God wants her to be as this decree is made and the Jews' lives are threatened. Now,

Considering all the things that had to align for Esther to be in this situation, it's pretty amazing. It could be pretty overwhelming. There's a lot that has come together. The timing is just perfect. Esther is the right age when this decree goes out that there needs to be a replacement for the queen. And so the ladies are gathered. She's at the right age. She's unmarried.

She is available to be part of this process and to be one of those who might be chosen to be queen. She also, of course, had to be of Jewish descent. That's central to this account and the whole thing that is going on because it's her people that are threatened. She had to have this wise cousin, Mordecai, who would raise her in the ways of God and also give her the good counsel that she needed all throughout the book.

And the Bible also describes her as very beautiful. And so that was part of God's orchestrating things as well. And then she had to be the one who is chosen. It wasn't like, all right, king, we searched all the land. She was the only one we could find. No. No.

He had his choice, and she's the one that he chose. And at the same time, the timing had to be right with the rise of Haman and this plot against the Jews. All of these things collide. All of these situations, all these circumstances come together to form this perfect scenario where Esther is at the right place at the right time to be used by God to accomplish something great for him. Now, that's incredible as you think about Esther, but

Let's bring it closer to home. What if your circumstances are all part of God's plan? Whatever your circumstances you might be in right now at this moment, and you might think of them favorably. You might think you've been promoted. You might think you have this awesome job. You have this awesome family. You might think, you know, things are going really well.

Or you might think, man, life is terrible. Things are just devastating, all kinds of destruction and disappointment. Whichever side you might be on, or maybe somewhere in the middle, what if your circumstances, the things that you face right now, are all part of God's plan? Again, let me ask you, how big is your God? Is your God big enough?

To be able to orchestrate the circumstances of your life, the details of your life, and every situation you face, to be part of his purposes and his plans for good. Is God big enough for that? I used to tease Pastor Glenn, who's a missionary now in Iwakuni, Japan, pastoring a church out there. Back when he was here many years ago, him and I, we were younger together. We would have a good time together, and I would tease him.

because he'd be struggling with some kind of challenge or something, and I don't know how this is going to work out, and I don't know if God's going to provide. And I would tease him and say, man, your God is so small. Because he was wrestling with, I don't know if God's big enough to handle this thing, right? And he knew better. The theology was there, but you know how it is. We all go through things like that, where it's like, I don't know how it's going to work out. We're stressed. We're overwhelmed. How big is your God?

Let me take this moment and remind you, God is big and he is big enough to arrange the circumstances of your life to accomplish great things. Another good example of this in the Bible is the man Joseph, who was a young man who had some trouble with his brothers and that was aggravated a bit by these dreams that God gave him. And so he's hated now by his brothers and they sell him into slavery and

He's a slave for a while and does pretty well, but then he gets falsely accused and then imprisoned, and he's in prison for some time. But through the course of those events, he becomes second in command of all Egypt. And God uses him to bring salvation to his family from the famine that hits the whole land. I mean, what fantastic luck is that? No, it's not luck. It's not just happenstance.

What happened in Joseph's life was part of God orchestrating all circumstances. God was working all that out. What if your circumstances, the good, the bad, whatever you face right now, what if your circumstances are all part of God's? Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. So you might be headed to work tomorrow and you hit some traffic and you think, oh man, this traffic, it's terrible.

I can't believe it. Now, typically when I hit traffic, I think it's in the way of what God wants. I'm supposed to be there. That's where God wants me. And in the way is this dumb traffic. And so I get pretty frustrated with the traffic. But what if the traffic is part of God's plan to get you where he wants you at the right time, at the time that he wants you to be there to accomplish the things that he wants to accomplish?

And so there you are in traffic and you get a flat tire. And you're like, oh, great. Another obstacle in the way of what God wants to do. But, you know, maybe that's part of what God wants to do, to get you at Costco at that exact moment to be able to meet that specific person or to be able to encourage somebody or maybe just to learn some valuable lessons about patience and trusting in God, you know? Who knows? But God is able to work in all of those details. And we see them so many times as obstacles. But how big is your God?

You know, God is big enough. If he wanted to part the Red Sea, and by that I mean the sea of red lights in front of you, keeping you from your destination, he could do that. But God has you right there at that moment. He's orchestrating all of your circumstances. He's that big. He is a big God. Now, what if you received a promotion? And you'd be like, yes, that's great. I have all this authority now. I have this position now.

but that God gave you that position and that authority to do something good, to do something of eternal value, to do something for his namesake, for his glory. Consider what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. Paul says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Now, notice what Paul says here. He says we are his workmanship. Now, that word workmanship, it describes a work of art, a masterpiece. You are God's masterpiece. Now, with a masterpiece, it's not something that's just kind of haphazardly just kind of thrown together and like, oh, I guess it turned out well. But a masterpiece is master planned. It's designed. Every detail is there in place by design on purpose. You're God's workmanship.

He's put together your life. He's put together your situation. All the details about your heritage and your upbringing and your transportation and the number of hairs on your head, all the details of your life, God is bringing together to accomplish his work. Notice he says we're created in Christ Jesus for good works.

You're a new creation in Christ. And by believing in Jesus Christ, the old things have passed away. You're created in Christ Jesus for good works. You have a new life in Christ that's set up so that you get to participate in the work of the kingdom of God. You get to participate with God in the work that lasts for eternity, the work that has great reward. But notice what it says here. These good works...

God prepared beforehand. Before you even had a dream or a thought or a concept of what God might want to do, about the things that might be possible in your situation, God has laid out for you your life. And he's set up for you throughout your life those opportunities for good works. Those opportunities to accomplish things for the kingdom of God. To accomplish the work that God has set before you. He's prepared it for

beforehand. And God's big enough to do that because he orchestrates circumstances. So that as you go about these things, and perhaps there's the events, the circumstances that you rejoice in, or perhaps there's the circumstances that you wrestle against, God's able to use all of those things to give you opportunities for good works, to be part of the kingdom of God.

This is one aspect of the vision for the shirts that we give out here at Living Water. It says, ask me to pray for you, right? So that when you have the flat tire, you know, and then you get to Costco, and maybe your mind's not there, and you're just not even thinking about opportunities, or maybe what God might want to do. You're just completely frustrated by the whole situation, and then someone walks up in response to the shirt that you're wearing and says, hey, can you pray for me? And you're like, yeah, I can.

That's what it's, that's one of the things about, that's what it's for, to help us kind of, we would just be oblivious, right? Like Esther was oblivious. She wasn't planning on saving the kingdom or saving the Jews. That's not where her mind was at all. But she had a Mordecai to come alongside her to say, hey, remember the kingdom of God.

And I prayed this morning, I would be a Mordecai to you and say, remember the kingdom of God. Yes, your situation is tough or challenging or awesome, whatever the case may be, but remember the kingdom of God. And perhaps the situation you're in is all part of what God wants to do to accomplish something great through you. And so the shirt can be like a Mordecai to come alongside. And when I wear the shirt, I'm reminded, oh yeah, be looking for those opportunities.

Because God sets up those opportunities. There's a lot of work that God wants to do. A lot of great things that he wants to accomplish. And he chooses to use us. He chooses to invite us to be part of the work of the kingdom of God. And so God orchestrates all circumstances because he's a big God. And he's able to handle all those details and bring them all together in a way that

that he's accomplishing good things for all eternity. Now, as I talk about God orchestrating circumstances, there's a couple little dangers that I just need to warn you about before we move on. Just a couple side notes, just to kind of make sure that we don't go off track here. So number one, as we talk about circumstances, understand that circumstances are never God's permission to sin, right?

So God orchestrates all circumstances. Now you could take that too far and say, all right, so I was hungry and nobody was watching the cash register and the bag of potato chips was right there. I think that means that God wants me to just take that bag of potato chips and walk out because I didn't have any money. So look at all these circumstances. I was hungry. Nobody's watching the register. I didn't have any money and the bag of chips were there. So I

Hey, that's what God wanted me to do. No, understand that circumstances are never God's permission to sin. That's not what the Bible would teach, and that's not what God would have you to do. But sometimes we try to justify our sin in that way, where we get involved in sin, we engage in sin, and we look around and we think, you know, nothing bad really happened. Maybe God's okay with it. It's another aspect or another way of saying the circumstances, you know, allow me to, give me the permission to

to disobey God, and that is never the case. And so that is not a valid excuse, and be careful when you look at circumstances as an opportunity to sin. But another side of that is that circumstances never prove sin.

And that is, and we'll see this as we continue in the Bible in three years, we start tomorrow in Job chapter 1. And man, Job is going to be a good book for us to be challenged by some of these things we're talking about today. Because Job...

His friends around him were convinced. Look at the circumstances of your life, Job. Look at all the devastation that you've experienced. You must be in sin. There must be some huge sin in your life to warrant this type of effect. They were convinced that his circumstances proved there was some kind of sin. But God reveals at the beginning of the book, that was not the case. Job was not in sin. That's not the reason for what he went through.

And so circumstances are not permission to sin, and circumstances don't prove there is sin. And we need to be careful with that, that we don't allow the circumstances to override and dictate what God has clearly revealed in His Word. Well, moving on to point number two, the second thing I'd like to share with you from Esther's account is that God allows evil and adversity.

Talking about God orchestrating all circumstances is great, and we can get pretty excited about it. But if you're honest, there will develop a little bit of a challenge in our own hearts. If God is able to orchestrate all circumstances, if God is so big, it would be appropriate for us to ask, why not stop Haman before it gets this far?

If God's so big, if he's so all-powerful, if he can do all these things with all the situations and circumstances, why even let it go this long? Why even let it go this far? This is a common thing for us to wrestle with. It's a very normal challenge to our hearts and in our minds. Sometimes it's presented in different ways, like why does God allow suffering to

If God's big, if God's powerful, why does he let these things happen? And sometimes that's, you know, generally, you know, these devastations in the world. And sometimes it's personal. How could God let this happen in my life? And it's a serious question. And it's challenging to all of us. We all have experienced this from time to time, I would say. And people around us are wrestling with these things as well. If God loves me,

Why does he let this continue? Or why doesn't he do more for me? Or why did he let that happen? And because we wrestle with these kinds of things, we can come to some bad conclusions. And so, you know, some have said, well, God must be, well, if God is loving, he must not be all-powerful because he lets these things happen. And maybe God loves you, but he's just not strong enough to

really do what's best for you and protect you from those bad things. And that's a bad conclusion to come to. Others will come to the conclusion, well, maybe God's all-powerful, but he's just not loving. And so he doesn't really care about you. He doesn't really care about your life. And he just like lets things happen or does things to you on purpose because he thinks it's fun. And maybe that's how God is. And so it must be one of these two. God's loving, but he doesn't have the power to do anything about it. Or God has the power, but he doesn't really care about you.

And those are bad conclusions to come to. But how do you balance these two things? That God is loving and that God is all-powerful. How do you work all that out? How does that come together? Well, let me tell you. I don't know. That's the answer. These are things that we will be wrestling with for many years to come until we enter into eternity. There's a lot of depth to these questions. There's a lot of depth to these wrestlings. And to...

We need to be careful because it can be easy to just try to like dismiss these things or change the subject or just give like a quick, you know, one line answer. Well, you know, God allowed you to suffer that way because, you know, he wanted to give you a new car, you know, or something like that. Like that's, it's not, it's not usually that easy. There's much more depth to these things. And so we won't necessarily sort all of that out. But here is something that's clear. We need to accept the reality that is presented in the word of God.

And that is point number two. God allows evil and adversity. We may not always be able to explain it. In fact, most of the time, we probably won't be able to explain it. We may not always understand it. We're never going to like it. But God allows evil and adversity. Again, check out verse seven. As Mordecai is relating what happened to Esther, he talks about the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy Israel.

The Jews. God has allowed Haman's plot to come to this point where he's paying the expenses so that the Jews will be destroyed. God had the power to stop this. Could God have stopped Haman before he went on this plot? Could God have stopped Haman before he had the conversation with the king and made the decree? Absolutely he could have. Why didn't he? We don't know, but here's what we do know. God allowed it. He let these events go forward.

In verse 13, Mordecai tells Esther, don't think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. Mordecai says, hey Esther, you need to face reality. You're not safe in all of this. You're wrestling with whether or not to go before the king because you might die, but either way, your life is threatened. You're not safe. You're not automatically protected in this. Sometimes we need to have that reality check and be reminded that

There's, there's dangers for us and we're not safe. In fact, he tells her, if you don't take action, you're going to perish. In verse 14, he says, if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And so Mordecai straight out tells her, God's going to let you die if you don't do anything right now. You will perish and your father's house will perish. Your family will perish and

If you don't take action right now, you don't have this automatic protection that you don't have to worry about it. You're never going to have to do anything. If you don't take action, he says, you will perish. Your family will perish. God allows evil and adversity. This is a hard truth, and we're going to wrestle with it for a long time. Again, as we read through the Bible in three years, we're starting the book of Job tomorrow, and that's going to extend this wrestling in our hearts over this idea.

I think there's never been a clearer example of the reality that God allows evil and adversity than the life of Job. Let me remind you and give you a quick sneak preview of tomorrow's reading. In Job 1, verse 12, it tells us, Here in Job 1, Satan and the Lord are having this dialogue.

Satan's been out roaming around looking for some easy prey. God says, have you thought about Job? And he says, I can't touch Job. You have him protected. God says, well, look at Job. He's righteous and he's great. He doesn't have any faults. He's just walking with me. He's doing what he's supposed to do. And Satan says, oh, he's just doing all that because you blessed him so much. If you took away all the blessings, he'd curse you to your face.

And so then in verse 12, God says, okay, Satan, I'm going to let you take away all the blessings that I've given to him. You can take away his children. You can take away his real estate. You can take away his flocks and his herds. He can't touch his life. God set parameters, but he set parameters that he would allow Satan to bring evil and adversity against Job. Now that might not be super comfortable for us, but that's the reality that

And that's what Satan did. And then in Job chapter 2, Satan comes back and God says, hey, you told me he would curse me to my face. But look, you took all that stuff away and he still hasn't cursed me. He's still righteous. And Satan says, well, that's because you won't let me touch his body, man. If you'd let me touch his body, then he'll curse you to your face. And God says, OK, I'll extend the permission a little bit. Go ahead. Afflict his body. Now, this isn't real exciting stuff for us, right? I mean, we don't want to be the subject of this kind of discussion between the Lord and Satan, do we?

But this is the reality. This is what really goes on. We may never understand why God allows these things until we're in eternity. But this is the reality that we must accept. God allows evil and adversity. But even though we may not understand why, and we may wrestle with that for many years to come, until eternity, there is something that we can know. And here's what we can know.

When God allows evil and adversity, it's not pointless. It's not meaningless. Going back to point number one, God's still orchestrating all things. And so God allows evil and adversity, and then he takes that evil and adversity, and he uses it to accomplish something with it. It becomes an instrument, a tool in his hands. And there's three things that you could consider about this. Number one, God is working in you.

When you experience evil and adversity, you can be confident in this. God is working in you. In James chapter one, James tells us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials. He says, because you know that God's working in you and it's producing patience. God's doing a work within you. And so you can count it joy when you suffer adversity. You may not know why. You may not understand the reasoning. You may not agree with it.

but you can count it as joy because God is working in you. Not only that, but when you experience evil and adversity, you can trust and rest in the reality that God is working through you. Joseph is another example of that. I mentioned him earlier. At the end of his life, his brothers are nervous that Joseph is going to try to pay them back for the wrong that they did to him. But Joseph reassures them in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. And Joseph tells them,

You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. He says, you meant evil against me, but God took that and used it for good to bring salvation to many people, to save many people alive this day, he says. And so Joseph suffered a

The hatred of his brothers, being sold into slavery, being falsely accused and imprisoned, all kinds of evil and adversity. But then God works that together. He orchestrated all these circumstances to accomplish something great. The Apostle Paul describes something similar in Philippians chapter 1. There, as he writes to the Philippians, he's in prison. And as he writes from prison, he says, hey guys, I want you to know that

that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. Now, I would think the Apostle Paul unchained would be far better for the furtherance of the gospel than the Apostle Paul chained up in a room, because he's a mighty man, and he did effective work, and God used him greatly. You can see that throughout the book of Acts. But Paul writes to the Philippians and says, I'm here in chains, and you know, to my surprise, I'm

It's caused the furtherance of the gospel. And me in chains has been more effective for the gospel than me outside of chains. And so God has used even these bad circumstances to accomplish something good. So God is working in you. God is working through you. And God is working for you.

In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, Paul says, Now again, Paul was in prison in Philippians. He suffered lots of affliction. There was lots of things that he went through. And yet he's able to describe it as light affliction, which is but for a moment. Now you know what it's like to be in affliction, right? When you're in the midst of affliction,

I don't think any of us would describe it as light or for a moment, right? I mean, when we're really in the midst of it, maybe if you stub your toe a little bit, but for the most part, you start suffering a little bit and it's not light affliction. It's the worst affliction anybody has ever felt in the history of the world. And it's not but for a moment, it's forever and ever. And you never see any end in sight. It's not gonna end. I'm gonna be in this affliction for the rest of my life. Paul says, our affliction is light,

It's just for a moment. And he says it's working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. That is, in eternity, God has greater things in store. So that in eternity, you'll look back and you'll say, that was worth it. Yeah, I had to suffer a little bit, but it was worth it. Now, this is a silly example, but think of it like skipping a meal because you know you're going out for all you can eat later on.

Right? So you skip the meal. You're like, oh, I'm so hungry. I'm suffering. There's affliction. But then later on, you're like, oh, I had all you could eat crab. I'm glad I didn't eat earlier so I can have more crab tonight. I mean, that was much better, right? In eternity, to a much greater degree, we'll look back and we'll say, it was worth it. Yeah, we had to suffer a little bit. We skipped a couple meals, but it was far better, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. How big is your God?

Now listen, if your God is not big enough to allow evil and adversity, if you experience evil and adversity and think, well, God could never allow this. Listen, you've got the wrong perspective on God. You've got a wrong understanding of who God is and what he's like. How big is your God? Your God is so big that he allows evil and adversity, but then he takes those things and he uses them to accomplish good things in you, through you,

and for you. That's a big God. I'm glad we have a big God. We can trust in him and rest in him. He's able to orchestrate all circumstances. Well, finally, point number three, as we finish up here in Esther chapter four, God invites you to do good. So not only does he orchestrate all circumstances and allow evil and adversity and then use those as part of his arranging and accomplishing for his purposes, but

But God also invites you to engage with him in the work that he is doing. He gives you the opportunity to be with him in the work that lasts for eternity and that has eternal rewards. Looking again at verse 14, here's what it says. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish.

Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Notice what Mordecai tells Esther in the first part of verse 14. He says, if you remain completely silent, if you choose not to go to the king, notice she has a choice here. This is not forced upon her. This isn't, you know, something that God forces in her life. This is her choice.

Mordecai presents it that way. If you remain completely silent, then notice what he says. Relief and deliverance will arise from another place. God's plan is not entirely dependent upon you. Now, I know sometimes we feel that way. And sometimes we feel that way because we're really proud and we think God's so grateful that he has us. But sometimes we're so stressed out because we've forgotten that God's plan isn't completely dependent upon us.

Mordecai has this great confidence and rest in the Lord. He says, look, the best thing for you, Esther, is if you go and bring this appeal to the king. But listen, if you don't, God will bring deliverance to the Jews in some other way. Now he says, you and your family, you and your father's house, you'll die as a result if you're not taking action in this.

But the Jewish people will be safe. God will raise up someone else. He'll accomplish this another way. He's gonna accomplish his purposes one way or the other. The choice that you and I have to make is, will we be a participant in it? Will we engage with God in the work that he wants to do? Will we walk with him in the purposes of his heart, his will, his plans? Will we do what God has called us to do, invited us to do?

It's not a forced burden that he places on you, but an invitation. Hey, you can be part of this. There's great fulfillment in it and there's rewards for eternity that result. You want to be part of it? You want to be part of the work that I'm doing? You want to put my will, my plans and purposes first and join with me in the work that I'm doing? It's an invitation to each of us.

Consider what Pastor David Guzik says about this. He says, Again, God orchestrates all circumstances in your life. And so you are where you are. You have what you have. You do what you do for a reason. So he says, here's what we need to do. We need the courage and wisdom to see that reason.

Maybe we need a Mordecai to come alongside us and say, look, here's something that God could do in your life because of who you are and where you are and the things that are going on and encourage us to walk in that. Find out what God wants to do through you. Find out what God wants to do in you. Find out your part in the kingdom of God. God is inviting you to engage in that work, to be part of that.

Again, let me remind you of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. Notice the language here, that you should walk in them. You should. It's not forced upon you, but you should. It's good for you. It's good for you to participate with God in the work of the kingdom of God. He's prepared everything. The good works prepared beforehand, they're set up before you.

But the invitation is, will you walk in them? Will you take the steps of faith that God sets in front of you? Will you trust him and rest in him and do the things? Now Esther's about to take her life in her hands and go before the king uninvited. She's risking her life, but trusting in God that maybe God wants me to be part of his plan. Maybe he wants me to be part of this work. And I would encourage you to begin to look at life from this perspective.

To begin to recognize that God has you where he has you, not just in general, you live in California or you go to this church or whatever, but as you have that moment and that day this week, God has you there and he's inviting you to be part of his work. You know, God wants to do a lot of stuff. There's a lot of people to reach. There's a lot of people to love. There's a lot of good things to do.

He invites you to be part of it. But sometimes, like Esther, we're kind of just oblivious to the whole thing. It was just like, oh, I just got to stay here and be safe. No risks. I pray this morning I'd be like a Mordecai to you and say, you know, maybe you need to take some risks. Maybe God has you at that place, at that time, for such a time as this, to be part of the work of God. And that can look so different for every one of us.

I can't be specific like Mordecai and say, all right, go to the king at this time and say this and do this, but I don't need to because God knows what he has planned for you. And God knows, notice the good works, they're prepared beforehand. He's got it set up. So walk with him, seek him and ask God, what is it that you can do to be part of his work today and tomorrow and the next day? How big is your God? Your God is so big.

that he orchestrates all circumstances of life, even the evil, the adversity, and he brings it all together to accomplish good while he invites you to come along with him and participate in the work. And I would encourage you, don't look at life's circumstances as obstacles to what God wants to do. Recognize that life's circumstances are part of God's work in you, through you, and for you. And don't fight against it. Join God in it.

And I'm sure it's his plans are usually different than our plans, right? God says his ways are high as the heavens are above the earth. That's how much higher his plans are than our plans. And so it's going to take some adjustment. We're going to have to lose our life to save it. We're going to have to surrender ourselves to God. But the end result is far better than anything we could work out for ourselves. Our God is big. He's got everything lined up. Let's trust him. Let's rest in him.

And let's join him in the work that he wants to do. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for a good encouragement this morning, a good reminder. Lord, the perspective that we need to have. We get so caught up in the details right in front of us. Lord, we forget that you're big. And you've got all these things worked out. And Lord, the real big question is whether or not we're going to join with you in the work that you want to do.

I pray, Lord, that you would encourage each of us. And Lord, that you would speak to each of us. Those specific things. How you want us to engage with you and with the world around us according to where you've placed us and for the specific purposes that you have in mind. Lord, help us to submit ourselves to you. Lord, that we might walk in your will and to live out those good works that you've set before us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

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