42 Sermon Illustrations on Circumstances

Sermon in Ephesians series:

"HOW TO HANDLE SLAVERY" Ephesians 6:5-9

I. The problem of slavery.

A. Universal in ancient world. 60,000,000 slaves.

B. Christianity did not call for outward revolution.

C. How is the gospel supposed to speak to our situation in the world?

II. How the Bible handles slavery.

A. Mild form in OT.

B. Situation in NT.

III. Three qualities of transformed relationships in Ephesians 6:5-9.

A. Equality.

B. Justice.

C. Brotherhood.

IV. Christ is the center.

A. The whole passage emphasizes on our relationship with Jesus.

B. The problem most people have is focusing on their circumstances,

not on their Savior.

C. Serve others as if you were serving Jesus.

V. Are you a son of the King?

Sermon in 1 Peter series. Submitting to those with power. 1 Pet 2:18ff

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IF YOUR BOSS IS A JERK

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I. Being owned by someone.

II. Bearing up under bad conditions. 2:18

A. Submit to good, and evil, masters. Colossians 3:21--4:2

B. What is commendable to God.

C. Called to be extraordinary.

III. Our example has been set by Jesus. 2:21

A. Example = do what Jesus would do.

B. Peter draws five allusions to Isaiah 53.

IV. Jesus was treated unjustly - for us. 2:24

A. Ultimately, the gospel itself is not fair.

B. Jesus looks for us, and after us. 2:25

V. You don't have to be jerked around.

A. Are you in a tense situation? Feel powerless?

B. Keep the proper perspective.

C. Are you in a position of power over others?

#4128

*

And I tell you that my heart's cry is that all of us will lay hold of this great delivering truth, that we may learn how to live through life taking it all at its very worst and rejoicing in those sufferings that come -- because this is the mark of having appropriated the fullness of the life of Jesus Christ. And, when this day comes, as Paul points out in Verse 11, we will not only rejoice in the hope of the glory of God -- we will not only go around singing, "When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there," but we will learn to rejoice in God himself -- God will be the important one to us. We will learn:

* That he is more than any circumstance,

* That he is greater than all his gifts,

* That he is fully adequate for every situation in our life,

* That he is El Shaddai, the God who is sufficient.

Jesus has come, you see, to prepare us to live -- to take life as it is at its worst, at its hardest, and to find in him those hidden streams that make it possible to rejoice in:

* All the difficulties,

* All the hardships,

* All the trials,

* All the defeats,

* All the adverse circumstances,

* All the crushing disappointments,

* All the heartaches,

because they are producing in us the very thing God is after, and making us what we want to be!

Some through the water, some through the flood,

Some through great sorrow, but God gives us song,

In the night season, and all the day long.

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Copyright (C) 1995 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church.

The story is told of a man in China who raised horses for a living. When one of his prized stallions ran away, his friends gathered at his home to mourn his great loss. After they had expressed their concern, the man raised this question: “How do I know whether what happened is bad or good?”

A couple days later the runaway horse returned with several strays following close behind. The same acquaintances again came to his house -- this time to celebrate his good fortune. “But how do I know whether it’s good or bad?” the old gentleman asked them. That very afternoon the horse kicked the owner’s son and broke the young man’s leg.

Once more the crowd assembled -- now to express their sorrow over the incident. “But how do I know if this is bad or good?” the father asked again. Well, only a few days later, war broke out. The man’s son, however, was exempted from the military service because of his broken leg.

Yes, you guessed it, the friends again gathered -- but we’ll stop the story there. You can easily see how it could go on and on. This tale points out that from our limited human perspective, it’s impossible to know with certainty how to interpret the experiences of life.

==================

There are many variations of this story, which also appears in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War." Here is one version from the internet:

There’s an old Taoist story that I keep thinking of. Once there was a farmer who had only one horse. One day the horse got loose and ran away. “What bad luck!” his neighbors said. “Well, good, bad, who can say?” said the farmer, who was obviously a bit of a philosopher.

The next day the horse came back - leading several wild horses that it had befriended. “What good luck!” his neighbors said. “Good, bad, who knows?” said the farmer.

The farmer’s son, trying to tame one of the new horses, fell off and broke his leg. “How terrible!” said the farmer’s neighbors. “Perhaps. We’ll see,” said the old man.

A few days later, the army came through looking for young men to conscript, but they couldn’t take the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. “How fortunate!” “Maybe. Good, bad, who knows?”

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #2083]

I don't do hospitals. Well, I mean I visit people in hospitals - but I don't stay there myself. I've been blessed not to have to stay during my whole adult life actually. Until a few months ago. For a guy who has very few sick days, this one bout of the flu really knocked me out. My blood pressure dropped ... I dropped - and I ended up in the emergency room, being treated for dehydration. I thought they'd give me some rehydration fluids and I'd be on my way. Instead, they decided to admit me because I could only hold intravenous fluids due to the flu. I was not a happy boy. Under my breath I was muttering, "Mur-mur-mur-mur-mur." Until my sister-in-law stopped by and reminded me of something I had told her once. (Don't you just hate it when people nail you with your own words?) She simply said, "Ron, remember who you are, and remember why you're here." Oh, yeah.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always on Assignment."

Well, Karen and I ended up setting up a little Christian bookstore in my room. As nurses and aides came and went, I gave them books or booklets that present the love of Jesus Christ. We had some great spiritual conversations, as well. Just before I checked out, the pretty hard-core lady that had admitted me came by and said, "Ron, we know why you were here now. It was for all of us pagans here."

Well, if I hadn't seen it before, I sure should have seen it then. This ultimately wasn't about the flu or dehydrating or medical care. Those were simply God's tools to assign me to something He wanted me to do, to people whose lives He wanted to touch through me. And that's exactly why you are where you are ... why you're experiencing what you're experiencing.

That becomes more clear when you read our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 16:5-6. David said, "Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." Now, whatever is going on in your life, you can, at any moment, in any situation, say what David did - "Lord, You have assigned me here." When I finally woke up to the fact that I was in that hospital by divine assignment, my grumbling turned to peace and much of my anxiety turned to expectancy.

Your mission is to first accept your assignment as being from your all-loving, all-knowing Lord - the God who always does what is best for you and for His glory. That perspective is a secret of lifelong contentment and stability. It's not at the mercy of your circumstances. So He may assign you to a stage or a back room, to a great job or the unemployment line, to being married or being single, to success or failure, or to health or sickness. But you can always trust His assignments.

And if your life is yielded to Jesus Christ, you can always trust that what you're living right now is His personal assignment for you. So accept His assignment and then faithfully carry it out, looking for all the opportunities in that situation to honor Him and introduce people there to Him.

Quit fighting your situation. Quit fussing about your situation. Quit getting frustrated about your situation, and start living this as your current assignment from the Throne Room of the God you belong to!

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

Teach me, O God, to use all the circumstances of my life today

that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather

than the fruits of sin.

Let me use disappointment as material for patience:

Let me use success as material for thankfulness:

Let me use suspense as material for perseverance:

Let me use danger as material for courage:

Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering:

Let me use praise as material for humility:

Let me use pleasures as material for temperance:

Let me use pains as material for endurance.

__________________

John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer

*

The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you. --Isaiah 54:10

During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, a group of social analysts gazed 100 years into the future and tried to forecast what the world would be like in 1993. Some of their predictions were:

Many people will live to be 150.

The government will have grown more simple, as true greatness tends always toward simplicity.

Prisons will decline, and divorce will be considered unnecessary.

They were wrong on all counts! So, what does the future really hold? Two things are certain: Circumstances will change; God will not.

We know these truths from observation. We see them throughout the Bible. Yet, we must prove them for ourselves when our life turns upside down and everything seems out of control.

We can give way to fear and panic, or we can choose to trust God's promise: "'The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has mercy on you" (Isa. 54:10).

Although circumstances will change, God will never change. We can be confident that He will always be faithful. Therefore, we can be at peace. --DCM

Be still my soul; the Lord is on thy side!

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain. --von Schlegel

To know the faithfulness of God is to know the peace of God.

Series: What Is Ours in Christ Romans 4:16-21

WHAT IS OURS IN CHRIST - HOPE

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I. God is good but life can be tough.

II. In a disappointing world, where is our loving God?

A. Bible says things are not the way they should be.

B. Has God lost control of world?

C. Hope is faith's answer to the dilemma.

III. More than a wish.

A. First aspect of hope - something inside of us.

B. Second aspect of hope - something outside of us.

IV. Hope's nemesis - Circumstance.

V. Tightening our grip.

A. Close your eyes to the persuasive pull of circumstances.

B. Quit believing that life stops when pain starts.

C. Remember the goodness of God.

D. Live with one eye fixed on heaven.

VI. The last word.

A. God has the power to do what he has promised.

B. Hope is letting God have the last word.

[series is based on articles in Discipleship Journal #114]

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn't know how she was going to make it.

She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.

The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Turning to her he asked. "Daughter, what do you see?"

"Potatoes, eggs, and coffee," she hastily replied.

"Look closer", he said, "and touch the potatoes." She did and noted that they were soft.

He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

"Father, what does this mean?" she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity - the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

"Which are you?" he asked his daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

*

Life is a journey through many terrains,

from gardens of pleasure to deserts of pain.

From an ocean of love to a jungle of hate,

from mountains of glory to canyons of fate.

There’s a highway for joy and a highway for sorrow,

a road for today and a road for tomorrow,

so choose your path wisely and walk it with care.

If you follow your heart, you’ll find your way there.

I’ve been to the garden and planted seeds there,

I’ve been to the desert and felt the despair.

I’ve swum in the ocean and drank of it’s wine,

and I’ve soared the skies through clouds divine.

I climbed up the mountain to touch the sky,

I went to the canyon and started to cry.

I’ve traveled both highways: both today and tomorrow;

I’ve basked in the joy and wallowed in sorrow.

My Path has been chosen and I’ve walked it with care;

I followed my heart and I’m on my way there.

So I’ll just keep walking till I find what I’m after,

to mountains and oceans and gardens of laughter.

Are your life circumstances advancing the gospel? Can you see the Lord's hand in your life in such a way that all of your life experiences, joys, sorrows, hardships, and training have resulted in advancing the gospel?

Paul was a tentmaker by trade. But he had an overall ministry objective in his business life. That objective left him imprisoned and persecuted at times. But Paul saw these events not as roadblocks to his mission. Rather, they were catalysts to advancing the cause of Christ. Paul's revelation of this kept him from despairing about his circumstances.

One day a little-known pastor who lived in the small African nation of Benin began to pray for his Marxist president. For two years he prayed. Then the Lord told the pastor to go to meet this president and share the gospel with him. The president rejected the gospel, but after another such occasion, the president accepted the gospel and became a Christian. He was removed from power but was discipled by this pastor. Sometime later this same president was elected again. Today that president is now a Christian leader of a nation committed to spreading the gospel throughout his nation. One man - yet millions have been affected by his obedience. This modern-day story is retold in countless lives of those willing to live for a cause greater than themselves.

Are your work and life experiences serving to advance the gospel? What experiences has God allowed in your life that are part of His plan to advance the gospel? Ask Him to help you see your life the way He sees it. Seeing our life the way God sees it will help us avoid discouragement in those times when life appears to be a mystery to us.

Can you picture Jesus celebrating the Passover with his disciples in the upper room? The scene is a familiar one, especially because it is recalled in most churches each time the Lord's Supper is celebrated. But after Jesus had washed his disciples' feet, after they had eaten the meal, after Judas had slipped out to betray Jesus, the Gospel writers record a detail that makes the scene even more vivid and even more moving. We read in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 that, before going up to the Mount of Olives, those who were gathered with Jesus sang a hymn.

Jesus knew what lay ahead. He would spend a night in prayerful agony. He would be betrayed, beaten, tortured, and forsaken, all in the next twenty-four hours. Yet he prepared himself to bear the dreadful weight of the sins of all the world by singing a hymn. Why?

I believe that Jesus was able to sing IN SPITE OF what he knew lay ahead. He was able to see past his agony, for he knew that his death would not be the end of him. We are told that “[F]or the joy set before him [he] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus could see ahead to that day when a loud voice will cry out “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4). Because he looked forward to this joyful resolution, he could lift up his voice in a song of worship to his Father.

I also believe that Jesus was able to sing BECAUSE OF what he knew lay ahead. He knew that his death was not an accident of history or a politically expedient sacrifice. Through this death that had been decreed before the foundation of the world, he would make all things new. Just as through one man, death entered the world, through one man life would be made available to all. He knew that the justice of God would be satisfied, and that the veil separating God from man would be torn in two. The fulfillment of God's perfect plan was at hand, and this was reason to sing.

I imagine that as the Son of God sang in the face of death, Satan felt a shiver go down his spine. He was about to fire his sharpest arrow at God, to maul his only son, but the son could look in the face of death with confidence.

We will never have to endure the agony that Christ endured because he suffered for us. But we all face suffering and deaths of many sorts. Whether you are facing the death of a dream or the wasting away of your physical body, you can join Jesus in lifting your heart to worship. We know that BECAUSE OF these trials, we are drawn closer to Christ and made more and more like him. We can pray as Paul did, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11).

We can also sing IN SPITE OF our trials, because we know that “[N]either height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). This world is not our home, and compared with the glory that we will have, the troubles of this life will seem “light and momentary” (2 Corinthians 4:17). That, my friends, is cause for singing.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

*

Imagine what it must be like to be shipped like cargo along with your whole family to a place, the only purpose of which is to kill people. Imagine struggling to stay alive physically and spiritually in that setting, not knowing what has happened to the rest of your family, but believing that they were exterminated in gas chambers or ovens. This was the common experience of people referred to as holocaust survivors.

One survivor was Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who emerged from the experience with extraordinary insights valuable to all of us. In “Man’s Search for Meaning” he says, “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked throughout the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

“Every prisoner had a moral choice to make,” he says, “to surrender one’s inner self to the Nazis, or to find the meaning in one’s life that would give one the strength to go on.”

The lessons we can learn are that no matter how bad our troubles are, we can survive them if we choose to survive. And the best way to survive -- in fact, the best way to thrive -- is to find meaning in every moment of existence, every memory and every possibility for our future.

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© 2006 Josephson Institute of Ethics

One of the greatest historians of the past century was a man by the name of Samuel Elliot Morrison. During the course of his life, Morrison taught at Harvard, Yale and a number of other prestigious institutions. At the end of his illustrious career, a retirement party was thrown for him, and at that party someone asked him if he could sum up what his study of history had taught him about life.

Morrison thought for a moment, and then said that history showed him that life was very much like a game of poker. Certain nations are dealt good hands in terms of people, land and resources but they play the game poorly by squandering what they’re given and they end up losing the game. Other nations are dealt very little in terms of people, land and resources but they play their hand well and as a result they end up winning the game. Morrison concluded that history shows us that it’s not the hand you’re dealt but how you play the hand you’ve got that determines whether or not you win or lose at the game of life.

As I’ve thought about it, it seems that Morrison’s analysis is true not just of nations and countries but also of people. Some people have been dealt a tremendous hand in life: they’re attractive, intelligent, capable, come from good families and have great health. Others have been dealt a bad hand in life: they’ve suffered some tremendous handicaps and setbacks. Their spouse walked out or family members have died, they’ve suffered from poor health or some kind of disability or they were physically or sexually abused.

And yet the issue for most people in life doesn’t really seem to be “the hand they’ve been dealt” nearly as much as it seems to be “how they play the hand they’ve been dealt.”

We think of a person like Abraham Lincoln who was raised in abject poverty, wasn’t anything special to look at, had some tremendous problems and losses in his life, served as President at the time of our nation’s gravest crisis and yet became one of the greatest leaders the United States has ever known.

Or we think of a person like Helen Keller who was born deaf and blind and could hardly speak, yet graduated from Radcliffe College, became a talented social worker and went on to become an inspiration to millions around the world for her accomplishments.

Regardless of the hand we’ve been dealt, all of us want to win at the game of life so we need to ask: How do we do that? Is there a key that will enable us to manage our lives and our circumstances in such a way that when life is over, we can say that we handled it well and honored God?

Illustration: Recently, a young friend shared a conversation she had with her pastor at her home church in Brazil. She had sought his counsel concerning a difficulty she was having; her pastor suggested it was “a tempest in a teacup.” She objected to his suggestion and said, “Oh, Pastor, you don’t understand.” His response was perfect for her situation.

He took a penny (actually the Brazilian equivalent of a penny) and told the young woman the penny represented her circumstance. He then asked her to hold the penny up to her right eye and to close her left. Having done so, he asked her what she could see with her right eye. “Nothing,” she responded, “the penny is in the way.”

“So is your difficulty.” He counseled. “Now, slowly move the penny away from your eye toward the sun, until it’s about a foot from your face, and tell me what do you see?”

“I see the outline of the sun.” She replied, as she squinted from the blinding light of the sun.

Her pastor gently but wisely scolded her. “You see, Kath, the penny is what you are worried over but the sun is the real problem. Get your eyes off your circumstances and look for the real problem.”

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Commentary: How I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve had my eye on my circumstances and not on my problems.

Circumstance is a problem’s playground. No one remedies life’s circumstantial nuisances until they’ve dealt with the cause of their problem; and no one can eliminate the cause until they’ve defined their problem. History’ s landscape is littered with the carcasses of lives devastated by this phenomena.

We must discipline ourselves to recognize the difference between symptoms and causes of problems; we must train ourselves in the art of problem definition.

It’s natural for us to focus on symptoms rather than causes because the symptoms are immediate and real. Such things as causes and definitions are more illusionary and intangible. But, all the same, we must get to work on this process.

The situations in our lives are not always to our liking: the places we must live, the people we must associate with, or the problems we encounter. And these things may not always be our fault. We may have been the victims of circumstances, or we may have made decisions which we thought were right but which have not worked out as we expected. Some people feel that way about their marriages — the woman, for example, who thought the man she married was a believer. She later found out that he had deceived her. His actions continually reflected his disinterest in the things of the Lord and caused her endless grief. There is a story in God’s Word that will encourage folks in adverse circumstances such as these.

The man of the house was none other than the king of the greatest empire in the world of his day. The Jews called him Ahasuerus, the Hebrew form of his Persian name. Secular history knows him better by his Greek name, King Xerxes I who ruled Persia from 486 to 465 B.C. His powerful empire spread from India to Ethiopia (Esth. 1:1). But that wasn’t enough for him. The real passion of his life was to do what his father, Darius I, had never been able to do — conquer Greece.

The Word of God tells us that “in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of his provinces being in his presence, when he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days” (Esth. 1:3, 4). Such a high-level conference, lasting six months, had to be more than just a big party. It was probably a strategy session for Xerxes’ forthcoming invasion of Greece. Secular history tells us that he began that invasion not long after this magnificent convocation, in 481 B.C.

To conclude the conference, however, he planned seven special days of celebration and feasting (Esth. 1:5). When he was a little tipsy from his wine, he called for his beautiful queen, Vashti, so that he could show her off before his friends (Esth. 1:11). She refused to be made a public spectacle, and Ahasuerus was enraged. At the advice of his trusted counselors he decided to depose her by royal decree — the law of the Medes and the Persians which could never be reversed, not even by the king himself (Esth. 1:19). It was a rash decision which he would live to regret, but Ahasuerus was known to be an impulsive and headstrong man.

Besides that, he had more important things to do than worry about his harem. He was ready to conquer Greece. His armies were superior to theirs and the momentum of history was on his side. But in a succession of famous battles familiar to students of ancient history (Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea), his military might was finally broken, and he returned to his capital at Susa a beaten man. How he must have longed for the comfort and companionship of his deposed queen to soothe him in his shame and put his fractured ego back together. “After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her” (Esth. 2:1). But it was too late. His decree was irreversible.

That is when his aides suggested an all-Persia beauty contest to find a queen for King Ahasuerus. “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. And let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to Susa the capital, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them. Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti” (Esth. 2:2-4). The whole thing sounded like fun to the king, so he gave his permission, and the search was on. A beauty contest is not a bad way to find a wife, if good looks are all you are looking for. But our sovereign God was going to give Ahasuerus a great deal more than good looks, whether he wanted it or not. God already had a wife picked out for this heathen king. Although God’s name is nowhere mentioned in this book, His providential hand is clearly visible, ruling and overruling in the affairs of men.

Unknown to Ahasuerus, the next queen of Persia was to be a young Jewess. She would probably have rather been in Jerusalem with her countrymen, but for some reason her parents had declined to go back when King Cyrus gave his permission fifty years earlier. The Jews in captivity had been allowed to settle down, open businesses, and live normal lives, and only 50,000 of them chose to return to Israel when they had the opportunity.

This woman’s parents were dead and her older cousin, Mordecai, was raising her. Scripture says, “And he was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter” ( Esth. 2:7). She was a lovely woman, and there was no way she could escape the clutches of the king’s servants who were scouring the land for beautiful women. “So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to Susa the capital into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women” (Esth. 2:8).

Mordecai checked on Esther’s welfare daily, since he was a gatekeeper at the palace. He instructed her not to make her nationality known to anyone, probably to guard her against the unkind treatment directed against Jews in almost every country they have ever lived in, throughout their history, and she dutifully obeyed. Then when it was her turn to be ushered in to the king’s presence, she asked for nothing special with which to impress him, as the other girls had done. Her natural God-given beauty and evident loveliness of spirit alone captured the heart of the king. “And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esth. 2:17).

Scripture never says that Esther wanted to marry Ahasuerus. It was a flattering offer, but she must have known that he would be less than an ideal husband, especially after what had happened to Vashti. But how do you say “no” to a tyrannical monarch without losing your head? So it was that this simple Jewish girl became the queen of the Persian empire. It was a rags to riches story unexcelled in human history.

The chronology of the book indicates that it was about five years later when the bubble burst and we find a crisis for God’s people. The culprit who caused the trouble must have been Hitler’s Old Testament hero. He was a vicious, anti-Semitic Amalakite named Haman, evidently a descendant of Agag, king of the Amalakites, whom King Saul had kept alive in disobedience to the command of the Lord (1 Sam. 15:8, 9). When Ahasuerus made him prime minister, everybody in the palace bowed down to him except Mordecai. He would bow his knee to none but God, and that infuriated Haman. He vowed not only to punish Mordecai, but to exterminate every living Jew in the Persian empire, and incidentally, that would include those in the land of Israel as well, for they were part of the empire. Haman got the king to agree to his plan and it was sealed with the king’s ring, the irreversible law of the Medes and the Persians. It was another hasty decision that Ahasuerus would live to regret.

“When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. And he went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. And 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” (Esth. 4:1-3).

Strange as it may seem, prayer is never specifically mentioned in this book, just as the name of God is never mentioned, but you can be sure that these Jews were praying. Fasting is referred to, and that is usually associated with prayer in Scripture. And the wailing probably indicates a desperate cry to God. These Jews were away from their land by their own choice, out of the place of blessing, separated from their place of worship, and that may be why neither God nor prayer are directly mentioned. But they were praying, and God was watching over them, superintending their circumstances to glorify His own name. He is doing the same for us even when we are not aware of it.

We are about to discover that there is a purpose for God’s appointments. This revelation is made through an exchange of communications between Esther and Mordecai. Esther sent one of the king’s chamberlains to find out why Mordecai was in mourning. Mordecai sent a message back explaining the whole diabolical plot, of which she was unaware, and encouraging her to intercede with the king. She answered quickly, reminding him that no one entered the king’s presence without being invited unless he was tired of living, and that the king had not invited her into his presence for a full month. There was one slim possibility — if the king saw her and extended his golden scepter, she could enter.

Mordecai may have missed God’s best by not returning to Israel, but his spiritual insight had increased since then. He was beginning to understand something of God’s sovereign grace and divine providence, beginning to see that God can use even the adversities of life to accomplish His purposes. He sent word back to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. 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 will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esth. 4:13, 14). Esther is really no safer than any other Jew. When it becomes known that she is Jewish, her life will be endangered too. Mordecai is convinced that God is going to care for His people Israel, however. They may be far from Him, but He cannot let them perish, for that would be contrary to His promises. If He does not use Esther to deliver them, He will use some other means. He is a sovereign God.

You see, Mordecai had grasped the fact that God allowed them to remain in Persia, and may now be ready to turn their decision to stay into glory for Himself and deliverance for the Jewish people. “And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this.” What an outstanding illustration of the greatness of our God. He can take not only the circumstances of our lives that are beyond our control, but He can take the wrong decisions we have made, and even the sins we have committed, and work them out for good. The psalmist says: “For the wrath of man shall praise Thee” (Psa. 76:10). If God can make man’s wrath praise Him, He can certainly make our sins and shortcomings praise him.

That obviously does not mean we should live our lives in total disregard for the will of God, and then expect Him to work out the mess we make. There is an enormous load of unhappiness and sorrow on that road, as many Christians will testify. The consequences of willful sin can be unbearable. It does mean that when we put our lives in Christ’s hands and yield ourselves unreservedly to Him, we can be certain that He has a great plan for us from that moment on. He can use everything that has happened to us in the past and every circumstance in our present experience to help carry out that plan.

God has a purpose for you, right now, right where you are, no matter who you are, where you live, to whom you are married, what you have experienced in the past, or what you are facing in the future. In fact He has allowed you to come to this place in your life for a definite purpose, “for such a time as this.” He has something specific for you to accomplish in your present situation, and He wants you to look for the opportunities in that present sphere of influence.

You see, believers are a part of God’s great program on earth; they should be living with confidence as people of destiny. God does not want us moaning over our plight and looking for a way out. He will be honored when we claim His grace to be what He wants us to be and do what He wants us to do in our present circumstances. We must take advantage of the opportunities He has made available to us in the here and now. He may later open wider spheres of opportunity if that suits His purposes, but that is in His hands. Our responsibility is to let Him use us where we are.

Esther responded positively to Mordecai’s godly advice. She sent word saying, “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. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esth. 4:16). Her reference to fasting would reveal her great confidence in the power of prayer, particularly in the fellowship of other believers in prayer. If we are facing trying circumstances, it might be wise to solicit the prayer support of other Christians. We do not need to air all our dirty linen, run down our spouses or gossip about anybody else involved in the problem. All we need to do is admit that we have a need and ask our friends to stand with us in prayer.

With that shroud of prayer surrounding and protecting us, the next step is to determine in our hearts that we shall do the will of God in that situation, whatever the cost or consequence. “I will go in to the king,” Esther affirmed, “and if I perish, I perish.” God may want us to carry out some unpleasant task. It may involve confronting someone whom we would rather avoid or admitting something we have tried to hide, as it did with Esther. But if we know it to be the will of God, we must do it. And God will honor it. He did for Esther.

God worked in a marvelous way. In fact, he performed a miracle for our encouragement. First of all, He laid it on the king’s heart to extend the golden scepter, and Esther approached the throne. She spoke with quiet dignity rather than selfish demands or angry accusations. And instead of blurting out the problem, she invited Ahasuerus and Haman to dinner that evening. At dinner, she ignored the problem again, but rather invited them both to a second dinner the following evening. It was not that she was softening him up or trying to manipulate him. She was using good wisdom, and most husbands and wives could learn a lesson from Esther about how to speak and when to speak. Grace and tact are the key words in her approach.

God works in unusual ways. On the night between the banquets, Ahasuerus could not sleep. He asked for the record of his reign to be read to him. That would probably put him to sleep when nothing else could. In the record was the story of an assassination plot against him that Mordecai had discovered and exposed, for which act he had never been rewarded (Esth. 6:1-3). That incredible little episode set the scene for the events of the next day.

First, Haman was forced to honor Mordecai for his patriotism. And then it was time for Esther’s second dinner party. As they feasted together, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done,” Esther’s reply was brilliant: “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.” The king was shocked. “Who is he, and where is he, who would presume to do thus?” And Esther put the finger on Haman, much to his horror (Esth. 7:1-6).

The results of that dinner party were awesome. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, and Mordecai was promoted to prime minister of Persia. And while the order to kill the Jews could not be rescinded, they were given permission to defend themselves against their enemies. Over 75,000 of their avowed adversaries were slain and God’s people were delivered. It was nothing less than a miracle! But God loves to perform miracles for people who see themselves as part of His program, who view their circumstances as part of His appointment, and who live to do His will right where they are.

But there is one more thing we should notice in this narrative, and that is a memorial for all time. Both Mordecai and Esther were so grateful to God for His faithfulness that they sent letters to the Jews in all the provinces in Persia instructing them to celebrate the two days of their deliverance every year. They called it the Feast of Purim, from the word Pur, meaning “lot” or “dice.” Haman had cast lots to determine the day the Jews should die (cf. Esth. 3:7; 9:24, 26). God turned it to a day of victory, and they were grateful to Him for deliverance. The Jewish people celebrate the Feast of Purim to this day. It is a lasting memorial to God’s faithfulness.

God is at work in our lives just as definitely and decisively as in Esther’s. Our circumstances may not be all we would like them to be. But we can thank God for them anyway. They provide Him with the opportunity to demonstrate His sovereign love and care, and they provide us with an opportunity to glorify Him. Let us believe that He will work those circumstances together for good, then look for ways to serve Him in them.

Let’s talk it over

1. Why do you think God put the book of Esther in the Bible?

2. Recount some of the problems you have faced in the past that you now realize God has worked out for good.

3. What are the present circumstances in your life that you wish were different? What opportunities to glorify the Lord are provided by these circumstances? How can you serve the Lord in them?

4. How can you help each other handle the trying circumstances of life?

5. What did you learn from the relationship of Ahasuerus and Esther that will profit your relationship with each other?

Esther is written in a manner that appears extremely secular. For example, it is well-known that God’s name does not appear in Esther. However, it should be noted that the book not only omits His name, but even goes out of its way to avoid mentioning God’s name. For example, in 4:14 Mordecai tells Esther that if she will not help the Jews, “Deliverance for the Jews will come from another source.” Instead of recording Mordecai saying that if Esther will not help, then God will find another means by which to save the Jewish People, the book conspicuously omits any mention of Him.

Another dramatic example of this phenomenon is when Esther instructs Mordecai to fast on her behalf for three days (4:16). One would expect that it would also mention the prayer that presumably accompanied the fasting, as it does elsewhere in the Old Testament (for example, in 2 Samuel 12:16, Joel 2:15, Ezra 8:23, and Nehemiah 1:4). Yet there is no mention of prayer!

God’s name is missing in the book of Esther but his power is not. God’s presence can be seen in the unfolding of events.

Rabbi Chaim Jachter makes this observation:

The twentieth-century philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, an outspoken atheist, was once asked what would happen if, after his death, he would unexpectedly find himself before God. He replied that he would say that God did not supply sufficient evidence for His existence.

The book of Esther provides a response to such superficial thinking. Esther teaches that there is abundant evidence of God’s existence and mastery of the world. But we have to make the correct choice to discern God’s hand operating behind the superficial, secular mask.

________

Adapted by David Holwick from Rabbi Chaim Jachter's article, "Why is Megillat Ester Written in Such a Secular Style?" , March 11, 2006.

THE OXEN once upon a time sought to destroy the Butchers, who practiced a trade destructive to their race. They assembled on a certain day to carry out their purpose, and sharpened their horns for the contest. But one of them who was exceedingly old (for many a field had he plowed) thus spoke: "These Butchers, it is true, slaughter us, but they do so with skillful hands, and with no unnecessary pain. If we get rid of them, we shall fall into the hands of unskillful operators, and thus suffer a double death: for you may be assured, that though all the Butchers should perish, yet men will always search to eat beef."

Do not be in a hurry to change your circumstance. If the Almighty One has sent you a trial, better to endure it than to exchange it for a greater evil.

There are a few verses that most Christ followers at least sort of know by heart. Verses like John 3:16. Or Hebrews 11:1. Or this one:

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

It’s a strange passage coming from someone like the apostle Paul. He’s been bitten by snakes, shipwrecked, beaten within an inch of his life on numerous occasions, abandoned by his friends on some occasions, maligned by people he cared about on others. And yet, Paul stresses the obedience of joy and thankfulness almost as much as he stresses grace and faith.

And make no mistake -- it is an issue of obedience. Often we think of joy and gratitude in the realm of feelings. Either we feel joyful or thankful, or we don’t. When we feel it, we do it. But obedience doesn’t work that way.

Obedience is doing regardless of whether you’re feeling. Thankfully, as we grow in Christ, we find the Lord not only bringing about in us the correct actions but also the correct feelings that come alongside those actions. But until we are made right and whole again, it is left to us to give ourselves to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit by continuing to do, even (and perhaps most especially) when we do not feel.

So, your gratitude -- just like mine -- is not a question of whether you feel thankful, but whether you are willing to obey this command from the Lord.

But there is another issue here to examine this week, the week of the year set aside in this country for giving thanks -- whether there is a difference between giving thanks in all circumstances and giving thanks for all circumstances.

If there is, it means that no matter what situation you find yourself in, there is always something to be thankful for. You may not be thankful for the suffering, the pain, the hardship or the persecution, but there are other things to lift your heart. When you consider everything that the Lord is, all that He continues to do in the world, and the next world waiting for the believer, there are plenty of reasons to say “thanks,” no matter what happens to be going on.

If there’s not a difference, it means you believe that every circumstance, regardless of how devastating or marvelous, has come from God. And since you know that God is for you, not against you, then you can be thankful for the circumstance, even if you are doing so in faith. You are thankful because you believe that ultimately good will come of it.

I think people love Jesus and believe both of these things. And at the end of the day, both sets of believers are thankful.

In my own life, I have seen how, over time, you become more thankful “for.” Over time, and with perspective, you begin to see the invisible hand of God moving in times that, in the moment, you could not see. You begin to reflect on God’s providential care and love and wisdom even when He may have seemed so significantly absent. You see how He has shaped you and guided you into a deeper experience of Jesus. And so, over time, you become thankful “for.”

To bring it full circle, notice that the command here is to give thanks in all circumstances. That’s what you can do right now, even if you don’t feel like it. You can practice the discipline of gratitude, finding the grace of God, in general and in particular, at work in your life.

But as you do that, think back a bit. Think back to those moments when you thought you would never have another reason to feel thankful again. Think back, and then look and see the redemptive hand of God at work because of those times. And maybe this is the year that you are not only obediently thankful in, but also being thankful for.

There are a few verses that most Christ followers at least sort of know by heart. Verses like John 3:16. Or Hebrews 11:1. Or this one:

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

It’s a strange passage coming from someone like the apostle Paul. He’s been bitten by snakes, shipwrecked, beaten within an inch of his life on numerous occasions, abandoned by his friends on some occasions, maligned by people he cared about on others. And yet, Paul stresses the obedience of joy and thankfulness almost as much as he stresses grace and faith.

And make no mistake -- it is an issue of obedience. Often we think of joy and gratitude in the realm of feelings. Either we feel joyful or thankful, or we don’t. When we feel it, we do it. But obedience doesn’t work that way.

Obedience is doing regardless of whether you’re feeling. Thankfully, as we grow in Christ, we find the Lord not only bringing about in us the correct actions but also the correct feelings that come alongside those actions. But until we are made right and whole again, it is left to us to give ourselves to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit by continuing to do, even (and perhaps most especially) when we do not feel.

So, your gratitude -- just like mine -- is not a question of whether you feel thankful, but whether you are willing to obey this command from the Lord.

But there is another issue here to examine this week, the week of the year set aside in this country for giving thanks -- whether there is a difference between giving thanks in all circumstances and giving thanks for all circumstances.

If there is, it means that no matter what situation you find yourself in, there is always something to be thankful for. You may not be thankful for the suffering, the pain, the hardship or the persecution, but there are other things to lift your heart. When you consider everything that the Lord is, all that He continues to do in the world, and the next world waiting for the believer, there are plenty of reasons to say “thanks,” no matter what happens to be going on.

If there’s not a difference, it means you believe that every circumstance, regardless of how devastating or marvelous, has come from God. And since you know that God is for you, not against you, then you can be thankful for the circumstance, even if you are doing so in faith. You are thankful because you believe that ultimately good will come of it.

I think people love Jesus and believe both of these things. And at the end of the day, both sets of believers are thankful.

In my own life, I have seen how, over time, you become more thankful “for.” Over time, and with perspective, you begin to see the invisible hand of God moving in times that, in the moment, you could not see. You begin to reflect on God’s providential care and love and wisdom even when He may have seemed so significantly absent. You see how He has shaped you and guided you into a deeper experience of Jesus. And so, over time, you become thankful “for.”

To bring it full circle, notice that the command here is to give thanks in all circumstances. That’s what you can do right now, even if you don’t feel like it. You can practice the discipline of gratitude, finding the grace of God, in general and in particular, at work in your life.

But as you do that, think back a bit. Think back to those moments when you thought you would never have another reason to feel thankful again. Think back, and then look and see the redemptive hand of God at work because of those times. And maybe this is the year that you are not only obediently thankful in, but also being thankful for.

In a seven-foot ditch that surrounds my sister’s house, fumes ignited from the substance my husband was using to waterproof her basement when the air-conditioner clicked on. The explosion left him severely burned. In the hospital, I helplessly watched him lay in excruciating pain for eight days before he died. I found myself alone, a brand-new mother and a widow at the age of 21. How would I get through such a crisis?

During the following days, I often turned to God’s Word for answers. A verse in the Book of James annoyed me as I read, “… count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be perfect, complete, lacking nothing” (1:2-4, NKJ). Where was the joy, I wanted to ask James, when I walked into the emergency room and couldn’t recognize my husband? His skin had turned completely black, his head was twice the normal size and the skin on his arms was missing.

While some grief, such as death, may take a lifetime to heal, the good news is that during that lifetime you can, once again, experience joy. Over the years, I’ve found joy by discovering that my grief is in fact working for my good.

Still, having joy doesn’t mean that I will never feel pain. God created my emotions, so it’s acceptable to grieve. On the other hand, I don’t have to remain in dismay. Looking at my life before grief, during grief and after grief, combined with God’s Word, I began to see the purpose of my burden. God was at work in my grief, making me perfect, complete and lacking in nothing.

My life before grief felt as if all of my dreams had come true. Not long after we were married, God blessed us with a beautiful baby boy. Life was going just as I had planned. However, did you know that God’s plans are not always our plans? Isaiah 55:8 says it like this: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘… My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (NKJ). I didn’t know God had a different plan than mine until the night my husband died. As a result, my life of grief began.

My life during grief was lonely without him. I felt angry and betrayed by the God I had loved since I was a little child. I locked those feelings in my heart, as if God didn’t know how I felt toward Him. Then one night I reached a desperate point and cried out to God. Bursting through the door to the throne room of grace, I shook my fist in His face and boldly questioned, “Why — why did you do this to me? Oh God, I need to know why!” Just as a mother runs to her screaming child, so did God the Father run to me, His child. I didn’t see Him with my eyes or touch Him with my hands, but I felt His presence consume me as if God poured Himself over my entire body. In the comfort of His presence, I was compelled to read Psalm 139: “Is there anyplace you can go from my spirit? If you climb to the sky, I am there! If you go underground, I am there!” (v. 7-8, The Message). I knew then that my Lord had not betrayed me, He had come to say, “I am here!” Healing began as I cried out to God and allowed Him to carry me through the painful moments. This process continued until He lifted me to a new level of grace.

Life after grief grew bright, as I focused on His promises instead of my circumstances. Grief usually offers me two choices. I can despise it and die in my anger and bitterness or I can live again by confessing my feelings and trusting God. I chose life. The Apostle Paul said in Romans that “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (8:28, NKJ). I believe God is saying, “In this fallen world, not all of your experiences are going to be good ones, but because you love and obey Me, I will make them good.” Still, why should I believe God is working for good when it feels so bad? Because His Word says that nothing can separate me from His love, and I chose to believe that. I like the way The Message interrupts Romans 8:38: “Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst of sins listed in the Scripture…" I’ve learned not to judge God’s love for me by my circumstances, but by the cross where He suffered and died for me.

Consequently, grief has made me stronger, more mature and patient so that I’m able to handle trials to come. Plus, I’ve learned that joy can be found by believing that God loves me in all things and is working for my good, conforming me to the image of Christ. God also has kept His promises by blessing me with a wonderful new husband, two more beautiful children and a heart that believes my Lord is good — all the time.

How can you experience joy in the mist of your grief? First, draw close to God by crying out and allowing Him to meet you in your pain. Second, stop asking, “What am I going to do?” Instead ask, “What is God going to do?” God is not working to destroy you, but to re-create you. He is making you strong and Christ-like so that you’re able to finish the race. Finally, choose life by trusting God and not your circumstances. As you do, you’ll gain a renewed love for Him, as His love enables you to encompass joy in the midst of your grief.