Jan 08, 2018 |Thread

The Hiddenness of God

01.08.18 | Thread

The Hiddenness of God

Kyle McMahon

Esther

How does God work? That’s a question many wonder and one of the many answers is that God works in mysterious and hidden ways. However, one of the ways we can examine this hiddenness of God is by looking back at history. Kyle McMahon explains how God works through the ordinary lives of people and is traceable through history. Looking at the book of Esther, we can see how God worked through Esther’s life, which ultimately played a role in bringing about Jesus Christ several hundred years later.

Esther

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Though God’s plans depend on human efforts, they are not limited by them.

John Sailhamer

 

Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days.

Esther 1:1-4

 

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.

Esther 1:12

 

Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Esther 2:5-7

 

Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known.

Esther 2:10

 

The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all…

Esther 2:17

 

And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him.

Esther 3:2

 

But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage.

Esther 3:2

 

And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Esther 3:5-6

 

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

Esther 3:8-11

 

Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:7

 

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry… When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

Esther 4:1, 4

 

Go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people.

Esther 4:8

 

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:14

 

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

Esther 4:15-16

 

This tree bears strange fruit

There’s blood on the leaves, it’s dead at the roots

The cracked grey branches are decaying within

Just like the black poison that hangs from it’s limbs

Come and dig me up, reach down to the roots

Rip the deadness out, and plant something completely new

Poison Tree

Youth