Transcript

Family Feud

Esther 2:21-3:15

Without a doubt, the most famous family feud in American history was the feud between the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s.

The feud between these two families was real – and it would become deadly. 

The Hatfield’s and McCoy’s were actually two wealthy families who lived on either side of a river named Tug Fork – which geographically represented the border of Kentucky and West Virginia.  The McCoy’s lived on the Kentucky side and the Hatfield’s lived on the West Virginia side.

In 1878, Mr. McCoy accused Mr. Hatfield’s family of slipping across Tug Fork and stealing one of his hogs.  That offense was very serious back then and it ended up in court but the McCoy’s were unable to prove the crime. 

It created such resentment that sometime after the trial, one of the McCoy’s actually shot and killed a juror who had sided with the Hatfield’s.   It only escalated after that. 

In 1882, 4 years later, one of the McCoy’s ran for public office.  He was verbally attacked and discredited publicly by one of the Hatfield’s and ended up losing.  Retaliation was a blood bath and at the end of the shooting, Mr. Hatfield’s son and three members of the McCoy family were dead. 

But the fighting didn’t stop with that.  It spread along the border of Kentucky and West Virginia between those who supported either family. 

The feud reached its peak during what was called the 1888 New Year’s Night Massacre when several of the Hatfield gang surrounded the McCoy family home and opened fire on the sleeping family. The home was then set on fire in an effort to drive Randolph McCoy out into the open. He escaped when he slipped out unnoticed, but two of his children were killed and his wife was left for dead.

Between 1880 and 1891, this family feud would claim dozens of lives from among the two families, often becoming headline news around the country.

In fact, at one point, the governors of Kentucky and West Virginia called up their state militias to stop the fighting and try to restore order.

And it all began with a stolen pig.

I would agree with Old Testament scholars that the drama behind the Book of Esther includes a family feud.

It is not coincidental that the family tree of both Haman and Mordecai are explicitly given.

Bad blood goes all the way back to the Book of Exodus and chapter 17 when the Amalekites became the very first nation in the world to attack and try to destroy God’s newly formed and covenant nation. / ^{Karen H. Jobes, The NIV Application Commentary: Esther (Zondervan, 1999), p. 120}

The Amalekites were defeated, but that only began the feud and it would last 900 years – which is where we find Haman attempting to wipe out the Jew, the people from whom the promised Savior would be born. 

When you reach the book of First Samuel, you discover King Saul being ordered to bring the judgment of God against the Amalekites and their King Agag.

Instead of obeying God, Saul spared Agag and the best of the cattle.   The prophet Samuel indicts Saul for his disobedience and then, Samuel himself has King Agag executed. (1 Samuel 15:33)

Still, the descendants of Agag flourished. 

And the bitterness and anger and hatred for God and His people will only grow.

It erupts from time to time in bloodshed.  And now here in the Book of Esther, this is the ultimate context of the threat.

It will escalate into bloodshed in an attempt by Haman – the descendant of Agag – to kill all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.

The key verse that tells us about this underlying feud is found in verse 10 of chapter 3 – Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

As Ezra is writing this account, he – and the inspiring Spirit moving him – doesn’t want you to miss the real issue here.

This is about a lot more than a stolen pig . . . this feud represents the hatred of the world for the people of God.

On the surface, you can travel back to a defeated nation and an executed king and a deposed family and wounded pride.

But beneath the surface of Agag’s history is the Enemy of God – Satan himself – who has tried for centuries to destroy the covenant nation, so that the promises of God will be nullified.

King Agag wasn’t the first to try and Haman hasn’t been the last.

This is ultimately a battle between the Kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of light.

With that as a backdrop, let’s pick up the drama at chapter 2 and verse 21.

Mordecai’s Desired Promotion

You’ll notice right away Mordecai’s promotion – no doubt due to Esther’s influence.  We’re told in verse 21that in those days . . . Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

Now when you read that Mordecai was sitting at the King’s gate, that might make you think that Mordecai’s sitting out at the end of the King’s driveway, checking license plates as people drove up into the palace.

That doesn’t sound like a promotion.

The gate was actually a large building just inside the palace complex.  It was the administration building where legal, civil and commercial business was transacted on the King’s behalf. / ^{Ibid, 118}

Archeologists excavated the Palace of Susa and this particular part of the palace – the King’s gate, was actually 12,000 square feet in size.  There is even an inscription by Ahasuerus saying that the King’s gate had been built earlier by his father, Darius.

To be inside the King’s Gate was to be one of the movers and shakers of the kingdom.  You were in the inner circle.  You went to the office parties at the King’s home; you got a gift from him at Christmas time – towels or china cups monogrammed with the King’s insignia.

He’s moved into the West Wing, next to the Oval office.  He’s arrived.

And while he’s working diligently on the king’s business some of his staff members inform him of a plot to kill the king.

The Eunuch’s Deadly Plot

Notice verse 21 again – while He was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasaurus. 

They didn’t want to shake hands, they wanted to lay hands on him.

We’re told what they did for a living here in verse 21.  They were literally “guards of the threshold” – which meant that they were standing just outside the doors of the oval office.  They were the last line of defense for the King. / ^{Debra Reid, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Esther (Tyndale House, 2008), p. 86}

We’re not told why they wanted to kill him, but it isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination once you learn they were eunuch’s.

Herodotus, the Greek Historian who lived during these days, reports that as many as 500 young boys were gathered from subjugated nations each year and castrated to serve as eunuchs. / ^{Jobes, p. 95}

It was a brutal act that pictured just how everyone – whether young beautiful virgins, or young boys, were considered entirely at the disposal of the King’s personal desires. 

Eunuchs were always entrusted with caring for the King’s harem.  Many of them would become well trusted and leading officials throughout these ancient empires.

One of the most famous eunuchs in scripture was the prophet Daniel who was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon as Jerusalem was destroyed.

Instead of growing bitter and angry because of his abduction into the kingdom of Babylon and his inability to be married and father children, he instead became a faithful and hardworking ambassador for his true and living God – eventually leading political rulers to faith in Israel’s God.

So, it’s not really all that surprising to me to learn in Esther chapter 2 that eunuch’s are planning, according to one Jewish text, to poison the King.

Often in ancient history, Eunuch’s were involved in palace uprisings.  In fact, it will be a eunuch who later succeeds in killing King Ahasuerus while he sleeps. 

But this attempt fails.  Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, tells us that one of the eunuch’s servant’s overheard the plot and told Mordecai. / ^{Peter A. Steveson, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (BJU Press, 2011), p. 232}

And here in verse 22, we read that Mordecai told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.

She made sure she mentioned the name of his most loyal administrator.

In other words, Mordecai is a hero!  He has saved the king’s life! And you can only imagine how the king will show his gratitude – maybe a gold watch or a pay raise . . . 3 extra vacation days . . . a new horse.

And what does the king do?  Nothing!

In fact, the king, for some odd reason, completely overlooks the matter of Mordecai’s reward for such loyalty.

The only thing that happens is in verse 23.  Now when the plot was investigated and found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows; and the account was written in the Book of the Chronicles in the king’s presence.

That’s it . . . no pay raise for Mordecai.

We know from history that acts of loyalty were usually rewarded immediately and generously by Persian kings, but Mordecai’s reward was apparently overlooked. / ^{Jobes, p. 118}

And we’ll eventually discover in chapter 6 why – God doesn’t want the king to do anything until just the right time – when Haman is about to succeed – then the Lord will bring this event back to the mind of the king.

When the time comes, in God’s arrangement, the king will order Haman to reward Mordecai, even though, unknown to anyone else, Haman has just finished building a gallows upon which to hang Mordecai.

God is moving the chess pieces on the chess board of human history exactly where He wants them as He eventually moves this entire contest to a checkmate against the kingdom of darkness. / ^{Adapted from Colin D. Jones, Exploring Esther: Serving the unseen God (Day One Publications, 2005), p. 47}

That’s the good news . . . but that’s for later . . . so, back to the bad news.

Mordecai’s Disobedient Posture

Instead of honoring or even promoting Mordecai, notice what the king does in chapter 3 and verse 1.  After these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. 

Now follow this – verse 2.  All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him.  But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage.

You can almost feel the tension rising, can’t you?

You need to know why Mordecai is risking everything he’s gained by refusing to bow.

You need to know that this is more than some kind of palace curtsey – you know – protocol.

In fact, whenever these two Hebrew verbs for bowing and paying homage are combined together in the Old Testament, they always refer to worshiping and reverencing God. / ^{Steveson, p. 235}

I’ve read several different views from Old Testament scholars on why Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman.

• He’s arrogant and upset that he wasn’t promoted instead of Haman;
• He’s not interested in court politics;
• He doesn’t like Haman;
• He enjoys irritating Haman who wants everybody to treat him like a little god.

There may be some truth in some of those opinions.  But the truth is, we really don’t have to guess, do we?

Mordecai leaves no doubt when explains to the palace staff in verse 4 that he won’t bow to Haman – get this – because he told them he was a Jew.

So Mordecai isn’t refusing to bow because he’s not interested in palace manners – you know, he just won’t curtsey – no, he’s refusing because Haman is asking people to basically worship the ground he walks on.

And a faithful Jew would never give that kind of reverence to anyone but God.

Listen, something’s happened to Mordecai!

For five years he’s been hiding a secret – and he’s sworn Esther to secrecy as well.  “We can’t let anybody know we’re Jews . . . that’ll hurt your chances for the crown and my chances at a career climb.”

But now the secret is out.

And Mordecai is the one – to everyone’s surprise – who leaks it to the press.

Which will now potentially expose Esther – people know he had raised Esther; he was part of the celebration and his career jump was the benefit of it.

Fortunately Haman won’t connect the dots – if he had, he would have attempted to assassinate the Queen before passing the edict – but he missed it – until it was too late and he walked into the trap.

But why now?

Why tell the secret now?

Why would Mordecai risk his power and position now – when he’s finally arrived; why sacrifice all of that now?!

There can only be a couple of reasons why. 

• One of them would be perhaps that he discovered all that stuff really didn’t matter anyway.

He was the proverbial man who climbed the ladder of success all the way to the top only to discover that it was leaning against the wrong wall.

He was empty with his well kept secret.

I talked to one of our staff members just yesterday – I had driven over to pick up a book I needed – I ran into Chad out on the sidewalk – he serves as the Director of our Sports ministry.  We were talking about people who had recently come to faith in Christ here at Colonial and he reminded me of his own testimony that I had forgotten.

He was young, successful, had plenty of money, but, he said, “I was empty and he began to search for truth.

He decided to try and find a church that taught directly out of the Bible.  Though he was raised Roman Catholic, he visited both Catholic and Protestant churches – by the dozen.  He would drive by Colonial and see the cars . . . he finally decided to come in.  When he did, he saw the congregation and their pastor with their Bibles open and he was struck with the thought – they’re studying the Bible.  He laughed and told me, “A sweet lady behind me noticed I was visiting and struck up a conversation with me during a greeting time, asking me a few questions, inviting him back.”  He would find out months later that she was my wife (Honey, I owe you commission).

He said to me yesterday, “I had a great career . . . I had plenty of money . . . but I was empty.”  Then, at the end of a service just weeks later, he prayed along with me the sinner’s prayer and received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

He said, “I had everything  - and everything was nothing – I was empty.”

Mordecai has been on the inside for at least 4 years now.  He’s got a private office down the hall from the oval office; he has servants and prestige and power – his adopted daughter is on the throne as Queen.

He has everything, but it feels like nothing.

Is that your story today?  Maybe you find yourself saying, “There’s gotta be something else . . . something more . . . something different!”

And Mordecai he knew what it was – he was running from the true and living God – the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

He’s seen enough to know that there must be a greater kingdom than the kingdom of Persia.  What a mess this kingdom was.  He king was an emotional adolescent; he did nothing more than build his harem and add on to his palace.

Oh, and by the way, Esther has lived with the King long enough to see him gather another bevy of virgins . . . she’s lived with him long enough to know she’ll never have in Persia what she really thought she’d get.

One author put it well when he wrote, “Disappointment is the nurse of wisdom.” / ^{Bayle Roche @searchingquotes.com}

Maybe you too have seen just enough of the world to know there’s gotta be more to life than this.

Mordecai knows the answer – and for the first time in this book, the secret is out – I am a Jew.  In other words, Mordecai revealed who his people were, what his heritage was, who his God was and who he was himself.

• Here’s the reason – more explicit in the text: Mordecai surrenders to the truth that to reverence anyone but God was to break His law.

In other words, I’m going to take a stand for the word of God.

No wonder J. Vernon McGee wrote, “At this point in the story I’m ready to throw my hat in the air and say, “Hurray for Mordecai!  For the first time, he is taking a stand for God – and it will cost him potentially everything.” / ^{J. Vernon McGee, Esther: The Romance of Providence (Thomas Nelson, 1982), p. 64}

Every time Haman the hot shot rode through the gate and walked into the presidential office – everyone bowed. 

He hadn’t noticed Mordecai sanding there before – Mordecai probably slipped into the bathroom whenever Haman came in – or bent over the water fountain to get a drink when everyone else bowed.

But his staff picked up on it – he was seen every so often out in the open refusing to bow.  And they asked him why and he finally told them, “Here’s why – I am a Jew.”

So there he is, standing upright, as Haman’s chariot pulls up; his jaw is set – in a very literal sense – he is the only one left standing.

And the buzz around the office finally reached the ears of Haman.

Haman’s Death Edict

Notice verse 5.  When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage.  6.  But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone – watch this – for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. 

As far as Haman is concerned, this is perfect.  He will use Mordecai’s disobedience as an excuse to settle this family feud once and for all.

He doesn’t want the life of one Jew – he wants to eradicate every single Jew living throughout the kingdom – which, by the way, would include Jerusalem. / ^{A. Boyd Luter & Barry C. Davis, God Behind the Seen: Expositions of the books of Ruth & Esther (Baker, 1995), p. 204}

Verse 7.  In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.

If you skip down to verse 13, we’re told that the lot indicated that the most propitious day for exterminating the Jews was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

Here’s what’s happening.  Ironically, Haman at this point is the only one asking his god for advice on what to do next. 

And so, in Persian custom, he gets the voodoo doctors to come over and cast the Pur – literally the dice, to determine the will of the gods.

The word Pur is an Akkadian loan word for stone.  These were usually stones, so to speak, made of baked clay – shaped like modern day dice – marked on all six sides and cast out from a bowl. / ^{Steveson, p. 236}

And the lucky numbers land on the 13^th day of Adar – and that becomes the day the Jews are supposed to be slaughtered.

And that day, by the way, is incredibly significant to the Jews.  That happens to be the day before they were to celebrate Passover as a nation – the day they were delivered from death and rescued from Egypt more than 900 years earlier.

God is undoubtedly reminding the Jews of their history of redemption which they had forgotten!

But they will remember it now.

Haman’s throwing dice in his living room . . . and he thinks he’s found the lucky day.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

God determines the roll of the dice – and He’s doing it here to bring the conscience of His people back to life and their hearts back to Him.

Listen, even though the hand of God is invisible, the grace of God is unmistakable.  This is the clear working of a gracious God.

But the storm clouds will still gather . . . and a death warrant will still be signed into law.

Notice clever Haman as he approaches the King – verse 8.  Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. 

Haman obviously knows what buttons to push.  The king has in his painfully recent memory the rebellion of his favorite wife; two military defeats at the hands of the Greeks, an attempted assassination by two of his trusted officers. / ^{Luter & Davis, p. 207}

In other words, the smell of any kind of rebellion has to be stamped out – immediately!

Then Haman sweetens the pot – middle part of verse 9.  And I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.

That’s nearly 400 tons of silver!  Worth millions of dollars in today economy.

Where in the world would Haman get that kind of money? 

Just as the Jews during World War 2 were stripped of their bank accounts and businesses and possessions – and the Third Reich became incredibly wealthy.

And the king said, “You’re speaking my language – here’s my ring – verse 10 – I don’t want your silver or the people.

Which scholars believe was nothing more than Middle Eastern posturing – the king would indeed expect to be paid the silver, according to chapter 4.

So the deal is struck and the edict is sent all over the kingdom – all the Jews will die on the eve of their Passover.

Notice verse 13.  Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews – in other words, there are no loopholes in this command – both young and old, women and children, in one day – the 13^th day of the 12^th month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder.

And the entire kingdom is told to get ready for this day of slaughter.

The Jews escaped Egypt, they will not escape Persia.

And the king of darkness wrung his hands in delight.

Haman said, “Listen, they don’t belong in the kingdom; they’re not one of us; they’re different . . . they are a threat to you O King because they really follow a different leader and they’re in our way . . . so let’s choose a day to get rid of them.”

On the evening of November 9, 1938 just 73 years ago, a spontaneous eruption of violence occurred against the Jews throughout Germany and Austria.  The riots became known as Crystal Night because of the shattering of the windows of Jewish shops, stores and homes.   / ^{Knute Larson & Kathy Dahlen, Holman Old Testament Commentary: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Holman Publishers, 2005), p. 311}

It had been growing – and the Jewish people had been marginalized for months – they’re different and they are a threat and they really aren’t like us and they are in our way – this is our kingdom and they’ve got our stuff.

For a year, the Jewish people in Persia will be marginalized – treated with suspicion.  Friendships will end.  Jewish businesses will dry up.  They’ll be avoided, feared, hated and envied and then killed.

They have nowhere to run . . . there’s nowhere to hide.

Himmler echoed the words of Hitler when speaking of the Jews, and I quote, “They do not belong to the same species but only imitate humans – they are as far removed from us as animals are from humans.” / ^{Erwin Lutzer, Hitler’s Cross (Moody Press, 1995), p. 94}

They’re not like us . . . they are to be isolated, feared, hated and then destroyed.

And Hitler’s troops would chant as they marched these unthinkable lyrics,

Sharpen the long knives on the pavement stone;

Sink the knives into Jewish flesh and bone,

Let the blood flow freely.” / ^Ibid

Where does that kind of hatred and violence originate?  I’ll you where – it does not originate in the heart of the King of Persia or his prime minister, it originates in the heart of the King of Darkness, that’s where.

Satan is the ultimate Jew hater.  His last gasp of defiance against God will be to attempt a final holocaust (Revelation 20) and destroy Jerusalem.  It’s his last chance.

Throughout the history of humanity, Satan has attempted to wipe out the Jew –for to do so would be to make null and void God’s promise of a Redeemer from the Tribe of Judah and God’s covenant promise to a people who will one day serve Him in His Kingdom.

That’s why the pages of history are stained with the blood of the Jew.

And that’s why there have been many Haman’s throughout time, deceived and goaded by Satan into mounting an offensive against God.

Most do not connect the work of Hitler with his devotion to the occult and Satanism.

He hated Jesus Christ and the church.

In Erwin Lutzer’s courageous book entitled, Hitler’s Cross, he digs into historical records and reveals just how deeply Hitler was in Satanism.

In the Hofberg Library in Vienna, there was a spear believed by many to be the spear used to pierce the side of Christ.  One day when Adolf Hitler was in his early twenties, he overheard a tour guide point the spear out to a group of visitors and say, “This spear is shrouded in mystery; whoever unlocks its secrets will rule the world.”  Later Hitler would say that those words changed his life.  Standing before that spear, Hitler made a vow to follow Satan.  He would come into that library and stare at the spear for hours, inviting its hidden powers to invade his soul.  He believed that this ancient weapon was a bridge between the world of sense and the world of spirit.  Walter Stein, who befriended Hitler in those days, said that Hitler stood before that spear, “like a man in a trance, a man over whom some dreadful spell had been cast.  The very space around him seemed enlivened with some kind of ghostly light.  He appeared transformed as if some mighty Spirit now inhabited his very soul, creating within and around him an evil transformation. / ^{Ibid, p. 65}

What else could account for his mesmerizing sway over the masses and world leaders who shook in fear of his intimidation?

I found it interesting that when Hitler eventually marched victoriously into Vienna, he went into that library, took out the spear for himself and holding it in his hand, said, and I quote, “I am now holding the whole world in my hands.” / ^{Ibid, p. 66}

He was transformed with this one passion – he was really just another Haman.

And he too would hear the whisper of sovereign providence as he failed to be Satan’s final antichrist . . . Satan has been looking for one – positioning for one for centuries.

But Hitler would lose the war and Jews would still live.

Hitler would, like Haman will, hear the whisper of divine providence saying, “Checkmate.”

Checkmate!

God owns the chess pieces; He owns the chess board; He owns the table on which it sits in every nation; He owns the land on which the table stands.

Mankind moves around to do their will, only to find that in their movements, they have ultimately accomplished His will.

What was God doing as He moved the pieces to fulfill His will?  He was preparing His people to remember that even in Persia, He was sovereign.

He’s bringing the Jewish people to the theme of this Book – they won’t find help from the government; they won’t find help from their friends; they won’t find help in their relatives; they won’t find help in their bank accounts; they can’t hide in their homes – they can’t hide at work; they can’t hide at all; humanly speaking, there is nothing they can do!

And that’s exactly where God wants them.

Let me read you one testimony that came out of the events of Hitler’s reign of terror.  Again from Lutzer’s book entitled, Hitler’s Cross:  “In June 1937, Dr. Niemoller preached his last sermon during the days of the Third Reich.  He said to his congregation, “We have no more thought of using our own powers to escape the authorities than the Apostles of old.  No more are we ready to keep silent at man’s request when God commands us to speak.  For it is, and must remain, the case that we must obey God rather than man.”  Within a few days, he was arrested and imprisoned.   His trial began on February 7, 1938.  During the previous seven months he had been in solitary confinement.  The indictments against him comprised fourteen pages.  He was accused of speaking against the Reich with malicious and provocative criticism.  He had violated the law and was charged with “Abuse of Pulpit”. 

Now, a green-uniformed soldier escorted Niemoller from 7 months of solitary confinement to the courtroom.  Alone with his escort he walked, filled with dread and loneliness.  Niemoller knew that the outcome of the proceedings was a foregone conclusion.  But where were his family and friends.  Where was his church that had stood with him?  He had heard of course from none of them.  Then, at that moment he had one of the most uplifting experiences of his life.  His escort had so far not uttered a word but walked with regular footsteps, his face impassive.  But as they passed through the underground tunnel and were about to walk up the last flight of stairs, Niemoller heard a voice repeating a set of words, so quietly it was difficult to know where it was coming from because of the echo.  Then he realized it was his escort softly repeating Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe.”  Niemoller was climbing the steps by now and gave no sign that he had heard the words.  But his fear was gone and in its place was calm trust in God.”   He would be condemned and sent to a concentration camp for 7 years, but he survived and was liberated at the end of the war to tell his story. / ^{Ibid, p. 144}

You know what an invisible God is doing centuries earlier?  He is setting the stage for His people rediscover that the He alone is a strong tower. 

• When everything else is unjust, He isn’t. 
• When everyone else gives up, He doesn’t.
• When no one seems to notice, He does.  
• When no one seems to care He always will.      
• Even when God seems distant, He is present;
• Even when God seems removed . . . He remains Sovereign and faithful.

You know what God is doing in Esther chapter 3?  He’s moving the chess pieces of history so that His people will once again discover that He is their rock . . . and their strong tower.

Perhaps that’s exactly the lesson God wants you to learn all over again today.