Esther 5: 5-8
Waiting is tough. When offered up to half the kingdom, Esther didn’t plunge at the king with her request. She casually invited him to a feast. Despite the urgency of the hour, she waited. The Bible says “In your patience possess ye your souls.” How can we do that when trouble is all around and everything looks hopeless?
I want to read to you a small portion of Felix Salten’s book : Bambi
“A pheasant dashed up. He had come from where the danger was the worst and was beside himself with fear.
“Don’t try to fly,” he shouted to the others. “Don’t fly. Just run! Don’t try to fly! Just run, run, run!”…
“Don’t lose your head!” Screamed the pheasant. And at the same time his voice broke with a whistling gasp and spreading his wings, he flew up with a loud whirr.
Bambi watched how he flew straight up, directly between the tree, beating his wings. The dark metallic blue and greenish-brown markings on his body gleamed like gold. His long tail feathers swept proudly behind him. A short crash like thunder sounded sharply.
The pheasant suddenly crumpled up mid-flight…and then dropped violently to the earth. He fell among the others and did not move again.”
You are listening to Storming the Gates, a podcast about applying prophetic prayer. This is a series on the book of Esther, where we are currently taking a deep dive into chapter 5. I am your host: Joni Scott.
I really loved the book, Bambi, when I was growing up. As you can see, it does not gloss over the hardships of life, but takes a little orphaned fawn and shows him growing into a mighty stag as he conquers the difficulties and joys of forest life. I’ll get back to that story in a bit.
First of all, Christmas is less than two weeks away!
I have so much to prepare and do and I am sure many of you do too! Next week I am planning a special gift for you glorious listeners out there! I would like to share a couple of Christmas stories from when I was raising my brood of five. We were po’ folk, to be sure. Yet God came through for us in wonderful ways! If you have a special Christmas story, I would love to hear it!
My email and Twitter handle will be in the show notes!
With that, let’s take a peek into this life of Esther, shall we?
Now, something happened this past week, that did give me a glimpse into this world of Esther. There was a case from Texas put forth to the Supreme Court that 20 states joined.
I was as shocked as anyone when the Supreme Court pushed this case off the table saying “Texas has no standing.”
I mean. Texas?
Today I listened to a talk show host say that he believes the justices are afraid, in this day and age, to take up a volatile, political challenge. Despite a high position of authority, or perhaps BECAUSE of a high position, it can be all the more challenging to step into the politics of the day. That is exactly what our heroine Esther did.
I thought of Esther, there, in the Kings Royal Hallway, bathed and perfumed and dressed to kill in the atrium. She could have played it safe. She could have concealed her nationality. She could have made an excuse to stay home and have slaves fan her with Palm branches and feed her figs. Instead, she considers Mordecai’s words when he told her “Perhaps, YOU were born for such a time as this.” Esther was not visited by angels, or given a prophetic dream (that we know of) but she does what she has now determined is right, because it is right. Because Mordecai raised her to trust God and risk it all for Him as he is doing each day by refusing to bow to Haman. And she said “If I perish. I perish.”
Now we know from Esther 5:1-3 the King was not at all angry she approached him. To use a word from Bambi, he was “twitterpated” when He beholds his lovely queen. He offers her the golden scepter and says “What is it you wish? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be yours.”
What would you do if the world’s greatest ruler offers you up to half his kingdom? “I’ll take a horse stable m’Lord, and a trip to the Bahamas, and of course I’ll purchase an Orphanage or something noble…”
Let’s read Esther’s response in chapter 5:4-8:
4 So Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.” 5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 6 At the banquet of wine f the king said to Esther, g “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!” 7 Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and request is this: 8 “If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and 2 fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the h banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
So with such an obvious answer to prayer Esther then… Drum roll please… invites King Ahasuerus and Haman to dinner. ? Muah muah!
Ok! Surely at this dinner Esther will spring her request on the king and tell the king what a terrible human Haman is. … Drum roll….
She invites him back to dinner the NEXT night?! Muah muah.
I really have to say.. I do not understand her strategy here.
I mean, I read the end of the book and I know it all works out, but I still have to stop and consider this. What was she thinking? Was it scary? Why not just tell it like it is?
I was thinking about our own King, Jesus. Who is always ready and willing to lift His golden scepter to his children. Yet when His beloved comes to Him He desires first and foremost our love. In Psalm 91 it says “Because he has set his LOVE on me therefore will I deliver Him.”
King Ahasuerus’s heart leapt within him when he saw His beautiful bride. If she led out with a giant request “Datty, Get me a squirrel. I want one of those squirrels. Get me one.”
Then the request does not come from a place of relationship and mutual trust. Esther is… schmoozing, shall we say? She didn’t want to just unravel her Christmas list. She is letting the King know she honors him and holds him in high regard. Us wives would do well to understand this concept.
Another reason is timing. The book of Esther is full of “coincidentally timing” as we shall see in the coming chapters. Sometimes I want to say a thing to correct someone or ask a favor, but I find I am silenced as I discern they may not be in the best frame of mind. Sometimes I am not in a great state of mind. I need to be calm, hear from God, await His timing. Talk to someone after God has worked His truth into my heart, and the anger out.
That’s why I read that story above.
Fear, which Esther surely was feeling, makes us want to hike up our skirts and run like the dickens! When someone is in a huge hurry, even in the face of great danger, it only enhances that same danger.
Take a look at Isaiah 30: 15-17
For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel:
s “In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
t But you would not, 16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses” –
Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses” –
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift! 17 u One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
At the threat of five you shall flee.”
Here in Isaiah Nebuchadnezzars army was breathing down the neck of what was left of Judah! They were terrified. They asked the prophet what they should do and he said, “Stay. God will take care of you. You will find favor with the king.”
Oh, but those silly emotions got the best of them! Like that pheasant in our story earlier they promised to do whatever the prophet told them, but afterwards could not contain their rising fear! They took off and were hunted down in the countries they fled too.
And God? He went on to say:
Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be v gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
w Blessed are all those who x wait for Him.
I love this verse. God is saying, “Go ahead and run then. I will be right here. Waiting. And when you return to Me, I will have mercy on you, I will give you justice, I will bless you!”
That is why what I call “Prophetic prayer” is so very important in the Christian life.
To follow God’s direction, you must enter that hallway and wait on the King. Wait for His favor. Then listen and trust what He says to you. Do not freak out. Do not go running after your own answers.
Years ago a friend told me an interesting story: She was about 6 months along with a new baby, and the family went together to the doctors for her ultrasound. With them was their 3-year-old son. He wasn’t reading yet, but he knew his letters!
The family gathered excitedly to see the new child on the screen, but were met instead with terrible news. The unborn child had passed away. As the realization came to them all, yet before the tears could fall, their 3-year-old seemed to be seeing something. He pointed into the air and begin naming the letters he saw.
B-E-N-O-T-A-F-R-A-I-D.
This message, received in a most unusual way, enabled the family to endure the tragic loss and trust God in the midst.
When the bad news comes, when you hear the sound of rifles firing and the footsteps of the hunter. Remember to stay still, and press close to the Father. Do not panic. Trust. Be quiet. Be confident.
Another way to put it would be what we read in Psalm 46:10
Be Still.
And Know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the Earth.
Of that, you can be confident!
Music: “Hope and Inspire” by Purple Planet
Tell me your Christmas story!
email: jandc811@gmail.com
twitter: @stormingthegat1
web site: stormingthegates.net
