Exposing the Enemy

Esther 7:1-10 (NLT)

So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet. On this second occasion, while they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”
 
Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”
 
“Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?”
 
Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.” Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen. Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden.
 
Haman, however, stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that the king intended to kill him. In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king was returning from the palace garden.
 
The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.
 
Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the
man who saved the king from assassination.”
 
“Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered. So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.


Reflection
 
How about this for a book?
Esther’s Eight Principles for Overcoming: a Guide for our 2023 Lives

If she were alive today, I think she would be an Instagram influencer and I would be hitting “follow.”

Her style of living reveals a classy but bold approach to being a part of something God wants to do.

Let’s look at her principles:

1. Esther listened to and acted on advice. If we aren’t careful, we can become professional advice seekers who don't actually implement good counsel. Esther listened to Mordecai and followed his advice, and she requested only what Hegai advised.
2. Esther understood the value of good grooming. We don’t need a year of beauty treatments like Esther, but we can respect the fact that we represent Jesus. How we present ourselves to others matters.
3. Esther kept information confidential. She lived with “many young women” for over a year and never spilled her secret of being a Jew.
4. Esther treated everyone with kindness. She wasn’t just kind to the king. She was loved by all. 
5. Esther understood spiritual preparation. Her one request to Mordecai was to rally a fasting delegation. She knew God was her only power source.
6. Esther understood timing. She didn’t reveal her request at the first banquet, but instead allowed God time to move in the situation. She knew the timing was right at her second banquet. 
7. Esther understood sacrifice for others. “I will go before the king and if I perish, I perish.”
8. Esther understood being a small part.  She only spoke briefly to the king. Yet that short speech changed history and saved a nation. Small roles can be so pivotal.

Esther’s challenge to every last one of us is to play a part in saving others’ lives.

If not, our life is in vain.

We are all headed toward our graves…and the number of people we loved, nurtured, discipled, hosted, provided for, reached out to, prayed with, and walked alongside is the only thing we will lay at the feet of Jesus.


Action Step
 
There will be a time in every life when you will know you were created for “such a time as this.”
Be watching.
Be alert.
Be prepared.
Be willing.


Prayer
 
Lord, flood me with the power of Your Holy Spirit. Empower my eyes to see, my ears to hear, my hands to do, my feet to go, and my mouth to open. Amen.