Scripture: Esther 3:8-11; 4:5-5:3
I want to make three points in today’s sermon: First, Life Is Hard… Second, Because Life Is Hard, We Must Pray… and Third, Why We Should Believe that God Wants to Hear from Us…
But first… Life Is Hard…
We can compare the story of Esther to that reality show The Bachelor. Back in chapter 2, Esther is chosen to be the wife of the recently divorced Persian king, Ahasuerus, through a process that’s at least a little like the one by which the bachelor chooses his future wife.
In a competition with many other beautiful young women, Esther keeps getting handed the proverbial “rose” until finally she becomes queen.
Except… unlike The Bachelor, love doesn’t factor in… at all. Esther is, in fact, a victim of an evil system that promoted sexual exploitation. She didn’t have a choice.
Just like Joseph in Genesis didn’t have a choice when he was sold into slavery—that was evil. You may recall Joseph was in slavery for 13 years before becoming prime minister of Egypt, and God used him to save countless lives. His brothers, who sold him into slavery, had no idea God could transform their evil into good. As Joseph says in Genesis 50:20, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” God transforms and accomplishes mighty things through Joseph’s young life—which I preached about earlier in this sermon series.
Similarly, God transforms the evil that was done to Esther…
She becomes queen—placed in a position of power and influence. And it’s from that position that Mordecai brings urgent news. Mordecai is Esther’s older cousin, who has also acted as a guardian and father to Esther—who grew up as an orphan. They live as Jewish exiles in Persia.
The Persian king’s prime minister, Haman, has manipulated his king into signing a decree to annihilate all the Jews. And Mordecai urges Esther: “Go to the king, your husband. Speak to him. Save your people.”
But Esther has a couple of problems. First, she has kept her Jewish identity secret. And she has no idea how the king will respond when he finds out she’s Jewish. And second, as she says in chapter 4, verse 11:
All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.
So no one in Persia is permitted to enter the king’s inner court without first being summoned by the king to do so. It is a capital crime. You will literally lose your head… Unless… Unless the king holds out his golden scepter and let’s you draw near. This is a hard and fast law of the empire. And everyone, Esther says, knows it.
And you say, “Yes, but… for heaven’s sake… Esther is the wife of the king. Surely the king will give her a free pass! Surely he’ll extend the golden scepter to her!”
Not so fast! King Ahasuerus is a wicked man. Notice those words at the end of the verse: Esther says, “But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” In other words, the king hasn’t seen me, or even wanted to see me for thirty days. And to be sure, the king is not spending his nights alone. He’s sleeping with somebody. We know this from the early chapters: the king has a harem of available women to sleep with!
Esther may have been the most attractive woman that Ahasuerus had ever laid his eyes on when he chose her to be his wife. But now Esther has every reason to fear that she’s been replaced… that the fickle king has moved on to someone else… that she no longer enjoys his favor… and that he no longer wants her. And so… when she enters his inner court, she rightly fears that he won’t extend the golden scepter, and she’ll be executed.
And why should Ahasuerus care? Human life comes very cheap to people like him. He’ll just find another queen if he has to.
So that’s what’s at stake here for Esther!
So it’s in this context that Mordecai speaks those famous words: “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”[1]
“Who knows?”…
He doesn’t know if this plan will work. Esther doesn’t know. And that kind of uncertainty is scary. But that’s real life.
And life is hard…
Unlike Joseph—who could look back over the past 20 years and clearly see what God had done in his life—Esther and Mordecai have to look forward… into an uncertain future. Esther has to take a risky step of faith without knowing how it will turn out.
So they say,
“Who knows?”
And “If I perish, I perish.”
Which brings us to Point Number Two… Because Life Is Hard, We Must Pray…
Perhaps you’ve noticed in recent years that after nearly every tragedy that makes the news, someone inevitably says, “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
“Thoughts and prayers”…
Let me first say, I’m not a big fan of one’s “thoughts” being with victims of a tragedy. But I want to be charitable: In moments of tragedy and loss, people often feel helpless. So when someone says, “My thoughts are with you,” what they probably mean is, “I care about you. And I feel helpless. I’m not sure what to do to help. But I’m thinking of you”—and that’s not bad thing!
But in recent years, there’s been a backlash against “thoughts and prayers”—especially on social media: The backlash says, in so many words, “Spare me your thoughts and prayers. Why don’t you do something instead?”
Because, you know… from the point of view of critics, “thoughts and prayers” aren’t doing anything…
But the real issue for me is prayer.
Forget about “thoughts”… the assumption behind this backlash is that prayer is not actually doing anything either!
And the word of God strongly disagrees.
In fact, prayer is the most important thing we can do—any time, always.
Years ago, a church member messaged me about a problem I was having and said, “If I can do anything to help, please let me know. At most, I’ll be praying for you.”
“At most, I’ll be praying for you.”
Not “at least”… at most… I love that.
Because he understood something we often miss: prayer isn’t the least we can do—it’s the most. He was saying, “I’ll help in whatever way I can… but the best thing I can do for you is pray. So of course I’ll do that too!”
Now think about Esther…
We often tell her story like it’s all about courage—she hears Mordecai’s words, she steps out in faith, she risks her life, she confronts the king, and she saves her people. And they lived happily ever after.
But not so fast…
Between Mordecai’s challenge and Esther’s action, something else happened… What was it?
Esther calls for a fast.
And in Scripture, fasting always goes with prayer—fasting is a way of intensifying our prayers… of amplifying them… You feel hunger pangs, and you’re reminded to pray… Your hunger reminds you that you need something from God, and you won’t be satisfied until he answers your urgent prayers.
My point is, before Esther takes action… she prays.
Prayer is her priority.
Which reminds me of an important episode in the life of Joshua, when he led the people of Israel across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. They’ve successfully conquered the city of Jericho. But then they fought a smaller, weaker nation, called Ai, and lost in a humiliating fashion. And what struck me was verse 6 of Joshua 7: “Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.” And he and the elders prayed… presumably for hours. Because they were waiting for the Lord to do something, to show them something, to give them something, to tell them something… They were waiting for the Lord to show up… They were expecting the Lord to show up.
If I were in Joshua’s sandals, if I were in charge of Israel, and if my army had gone down in humiliating defeat, I’m afraid my first instinct would not be to spend hours seeking guidance from God, waiting for answers from God, waiting for God to show up.
I’m sure I’d be tempted to get my generals together, formulate a new plan, discipline the troops… I’d want to take action… I’d want my people seeing me doing something. And I would probably forget about praying!
Why… I often have a hard time believing that prayer is doing something!
I’m more of an “act first, pray later” kind of guy. But not Esther. She understands something we need to learn:
Her plan will only succeed if God makes it succeed… Her plan will only succeed if she prays… and invites all of God’s people living in Susa, the capital of Persia, to pray.
And yet so much of what we’re taught—even in the church—sounds like the opposite.
I’ve attended many church-sponsored “pastoral leadership” conferences and seminars over the years. And they all sounded something like this: “Here are the seven steps to grow your church… Five keys to effective pastoral leadership… Eight principles of faithful stewardship…” Et cetera…
In other words, the message of these various seminars, classes, and conferences was something like this: “Here’s what you need to do to make things happen…”
Yet… these steps, keys, and principles… and these seminars, classes, and conferences rarely included prayer!
As if prayer were optional… for our success as a church or individuals… As if prayer were the cherry on top of the church sundae…
When in reality, prayer prayer ought to be the main course.
If you don’t believe me, read Paul’s letters in the New Testament. Notice how much time Paul spends praying for his churches—read the first chapter of any of his letters. And it’s clear that the reason Paul was the most successful missionary who ever lived is because of the priority he placed on prayer.
And it’s not just that Paul prayed for his churches… Paul depended on their prayers for him.
Think about what he says in Philippians chapter 1. He’s sitting in prison. His life is on the line. And he tells the Philippians that through their prayers—and the help of the Holy Spirit—this imprisonment will turn out for his deliverance. In other words, Paul believes that what happens to him—whether he lives or dies, whether his mission advances or stalls… it is, in some mysterious but very real way, tied to whether God’s people are praying for him!
Do you hear how bold that is? Paul is saying, “Your prayers matter for my life and my ministry.”
And it’s not just there. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul talks about a time when he was under such severe pressure that he “despaired of life itself.”[2] He thought he was going to die. But then he says that God delivered him—and will continue to deliver him—as the Corinthians help him “by their prayers.”[3] He goes on to say that many will give thanks to God because of what God has done in response to those prayers. In other words, Paul sees a direct line between the prayers of the church and the saving, delivering work of God in his life.
Or take Philemon 22. Paul is still in prison, and he tells Philemon to prepare a guest room for him, “for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.” Think about that. Paul is confident that he will be released from prison—not because he has a great lawyer, not because he has powerful political connections—but because God’s people are praying.
So again… when we talk about prayer, we are are hardly talking about doing nothing. We are talking about the most important thing we can do.
So I want to say, “Don’t just do something! Pray!”
Don’t just do something! Pray!
And think about it: As we look to moving next year into our new, permanent church home, we are going to be facing a situation not entirely unlike the situation that Esther and Mordecai faced. We’re going to be living, ministering, worshiping among people… can we just adopt them as “our people”? People who, like the Jews living in Persia, are being threatened by death and destruction at the hands of an enemy… Except this enemy is far more dangerous than the ancient Persians. Because if this enemy wins, the people in our new community—our people—lose not only their lives… but their very souls.
And who knows if God is placing us in this new community for such a time as this?
Well… we know God is doing that. And he’s giving us a mission—the Great Commission—to do all within our power to save them… to rescue them… The stakes couldn’t be higher.
Therefore, what’s the most important thing we can do? What’s the first and most important action we can take?
That’s right: we can pray…
Don’t just do something! Pray!
And that brings us to Jesus… and Point Number Three… Why We Should Believe that God Wants to Hear from Us
Because if prayer is the most important thing we can do… we need to ask: How is it that sinners like us are even able to come before a holy God in the first place?
Think about the Old Testament.
In this sermon series, I preached about Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10—who were careless with God’s holiness—and they were struck down. I preached about poor Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6—when reached out to steady the Ark, to prevent it from falling off of the ox cart, and he gets struck down.
Or many of you know about Isaiah in the temple in Isaiah 6—he catches a glimpse of God’s holiness while worshiping in the temple and cries out, “Woe is me! I’m undone! I’m a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
And I’ve preached about Peter in the Gospels—after the miraculous catch of fish, he falls at Jesus’ feet and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”[4]
What do all these moments have in common?
They remind us that apart from God’s grace, sinful human beings cannot survive for long in the presence of a holy and sinless God. Apart from grace, sin is a deadly serious problem that separates us from God.
And in a way, Esther illustrates the problem we sinners face… as we think about going before God our King…
Esther is afraid to walk into the throne room of King Ahasuerus. She knows that she’s not worthy… and that unless he extends the golden scepter, she’s a dead woman.
In the same way, unless God solves our problem with sin, we have no hope of standing in his presence.
But that’s exactly why Jesus came.
He lived the perfectly holy life we could never live. And he died the death we deserved to die—on the cross, in our place.
And because of him, everything changes.
That’s why, now, the author of Hebrews can say these words in Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”[5]
Do you hear that? Unlike Esther going before her king, you and I, through faith in Christ, can go straight to the throne room of almighty God…
Not fearfully.
Not uncertainly.
Not wondering if we’ll survive the encounter.
But with boldness…
Because through Jesus Christ, when we come before the throne of God now, it’s as if God our King has extended the scepter to us… and he’ll never take it away.
Because that scepter… is in the shape of a cross.
[1] Esther 4:14
[2] 2 Corinthians 1:8 ESV
[3] 2 Corinthians 1:10-11
[4] Luke 5:8
[5] Hebrews 4:16