Bibledoorajar Comments on A Sleepless Night

     "If you can't sleep, then get up and do something

instead of lying there worrying. It's the

worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep."

Dale Carnegie

     The king could not sleep. He got up and sent an attendant for the chronicles in which were written  the history and facts of his nation. These, being chronicles, were, of course, kept in chronological order. Chronicle after chronicle, and it just so happened that the attendant brought in the volume that recorded an event about Mordecai. Surely the Providence of God can override anything to see that His will is accomplished! As the attendant read, the king listened again to how Mordecai sent a warning of a plot to kill the king. What was done to reward this wonderful man. Nothing. Nothing?  Surely this oversight must be rectified.

     Honoring the brave and those who make valuable contributions to a society is still done in most civilized countries and in places of employment. Loyalty and excellence are premier values that all recognize. Jesus knows about your loyalty and valuable contributions to Him and the Bible says that those things one does in secret for Him will be rewarded openly (Matthew 6:6). He is just and true and it is a mistake to think that He is asleep at the wheel. The psalmist declared that the One who kept Israel neither slumbered nor slept. Sometimes it may appear that He sleeps because He is so long-suffering. However, this is not the case. Thomas Jefferson, concerned for America, made this comment: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever." It is a truism, our long-suffering God will "awake" and return in justice. Let us seek to serve him well now just as Mordecai did in the midst of evil.

 

Bibledoorajar Has a Look at Hypocrisy

...heard Jesus' teachings they scoffed at him. But he

responded: "You try to look good in the eyes of

men. But God sees your hearts. And what men think highly

of is a stench before God."

Luke 16: 14-15

Haman's desires about killing Mordecai were now visible in the gallows he had had built. No one around him spoke to him about the evil intent of his heart. However, those gallows made clear what he wanted and expected. Perhaps those close to Haman knew that whatever he did, he did with the intent of being praised by others. As long as they were not going to be hurt by his actions they gave him what he relished: attention and preeminence. But Mordecai did not give him what he relished and refused to be in cultural bondage to this man and his deceit. 

Haman has been asked by the king what reward the man who had helped the king should receive. Haman, thinking that there could not possibly be another that the king would want to honor more than him,  said this to the king:

For a man the king wants to honor, have royal robes brought

which the king himself wears and the horse the king

himself rides, with a royal crown on its head. The

robes and the horse should be handed over to one of the king's

most respected officials, and they should put the robes

on the man the king wants to honor and lead him on horseback

through the streets of the city, PROCLAIMING ahead of him. "This 

is done for a man whom the king wants to honor."

       

Jesus spent a lot of time trying to help people learn the importance of matching their public face with their inner heart. In Matt. 6:1 he says that we should "be sure that we do not do our acts of rightness before human beings with the INTENT of being seen by them. Otherwise your Father, the one in the heavens, will have nothing to do with it." In 6:2 he says that all of those who insist on having TRUMPETS  BLOWN before them will have received their reward. That recognition is what they wanted and that recognition is what they got--- along with an inflated ego. What my mother said must be true, "Nobody likes a show-off."

Bibledoorajar Comments on Haman' Fate

Gloom, despair and agony on me

Deep, dark depression, excessive misery.

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

Gloom, despair and agony on me.

Buck Owens and Roy Clark as sung on

the T.V. show "Hee-Haw"

Haman left that first banquet thinking he was the luckiest guy in the world, the only man invited to the banquet beside the king. However, by the time he got home, having seen his arch nemesis, Mordecai by the gate, he was in the pits of despair. But his wife and friends console him and help him in problem solving. The best thing to do was to kill that Jew, after all, out of sight out of mind. This really appealed to Haman and as the murder of Mordecai came more into view, Haman became elated. That very evening he had a seventy-five foot gallows erected in his side yard and then at some time returned to the court.

In the meantime, over at the palace, the king awakened and, not being able to sleep ,sent for the royal records. As "heavenly coincidence" would have it, the attendant was reading about how Mordecai had saved the king's life by advising him of a plot to take the king's life. When the king inquired as to how Mordecai was rewarded he was told nothing had been done. He immediately sought to rectify the situation. Hearing that his "loyal" friend was in the courts, he sent for Haman. Without mentioning a name, the king asked Haman how he thought a loyal subject who had assisted the king should be rewarded. Thinking only that the king could be referring to him, Haman proposed a spectacular reward.

Haman acted only out of self-will. The truth about himself was concealed from him. His wife and friends had provided only ungodly counsel and that allowed the truth about Haman to remain concealed from him. No one in the group was thinking about upright behavior and no one was thinking about the God of the Jews. But that was a mistake as we will soon see.

"Don't demand an audience with the king's presence,

and do not claim a place among great men..."

Prov. 25:6

It is a good reminder that we are to serve humbly and that our Father will do the rewarding as He sees fit. "Lord, help us crucify our will and seek to serve as you would have us. Amen."

Bibledoorajar Loves the Revealed

     The king has become enthralled with Esther, the queen. He has brought the arch enemy of the Jews to her banquet as requested. However, the truth has been concealed from him and being queen did not guarantee respect if he should become angry with her. Vashti is certainly an example of how quickly a human, no matter the lofty position, can lose respect. One thing we know, Haman had no respect for Queen Esther. He was in attendance only to enhance himself and to further his heinous plan to destroy the Jews. At this first banquet Esther's plans remained concealed. Only Esther had clear knowledge that God secretly moves on behalf of His people among the nations. The banquet ended with the king not having become impatient with her and Ahaseurus and Haman have been asked to return for a second banquet.
By the second banquet it is clear that Haman had completely devalued God's people and their ability to have any intellectual abilities that could lead them to victory over his prowess and ability. In doing this he also devalued the primacy and sufficiency of their God. So still, the truth is concealed from some and revealed to another.  Our goal is to learn from Esther's story. While God's power may be concealed from some, believers are to understand God's provision with clarity. The first banquet forces the question: Is God present or not? Does the story move us to say YES! and to move us to reveal Him to others?  Is He on the Throne or not? The second banquest builds this tension. Though concealed, is God revealed to those who discern spiritual matters? Will deliverance, though hidden yet come?
     For some, Jesus was a good man, a prophet, but not the son of God. The truth is concealed from these people. But for many of us, through faith, study and understanding, we have come to know and believe the following as absolute truth:

For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead

bodily.

Colossians 2:9