Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Hiddenness of God | The Writings | Esther 1-2

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Why is the book of Esther in the Bible if God is never mentioned? Is God present in the day-to-day activities of our lives? Can God use complex people to accomplish his purposes? In today's episode, Tanya shows us how Esther 1-2 reveals God's hidden sovereignty even in strange, dark times. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Esther 1-2

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. When you're their religious minority and the people around you have different views on almost everything, how do you respond? Do you withdraw? Do you assimilate? Do you push back? Do you critique? What are we supposed to do? In the book of Esther, the Jews are constantly living on the edge of danger. As exiles, they have no land. no military power and no king. They live in a Persian society among people who have different views on everything related to morals and religion and politics. Now before, God has been with his people when they're in exile, when they're in danger. Sometimes God was doing miraculous things like

parting a sea or sending food out of the clouds. But now, in this time and place, God seems silent. Is this an oversight? In fact, does this book really belong in the Bible at all? I mean, there's no mention of God anywhere in the book. In fact, it's a book about a powerless woman who became queen by winning a beauty and sex contest that pleased the king. Are these things strange? Or do they actually make a point? This is what we're going to talk about today, how the hiddenness of God isn't a strange coincidence, but it's actually a statement about how an unseen God works through human history with ordinary people and ordinary events. Now Esther's chapter 1 and 2 open with a contrast. It's like a tale of two people. On one hand,

you have a rich, indulgent Persian king. He has lots of money, clothes, ornaments, women, food, and wine, but he has little to no discernment. He is throwing a party to show off his wealth and indulge himself and all of his favorite people. Now, on the other hand, while all this is happening, the author takes a detour in chapter two to introduce a woman named Esther. She is the king's complete opposite. Esther is living in this kingdom, but she's an orphan. She's being raised by her uncle Mordecai. Esther is Jewish and she's a woman. Who could be more of an outsider in the Persian Empire than a Jewish exile and a female Jewish exile at that? How does a woman like Esther become the most influential woman,

in the kingdom. Well, that's what this book is going to be all about. The two worlds collide when the king summons Queen Vashti at this fancy party and wants her to come before him and dance for him and his royal officials. But Vashti says no. So the king throws a hissy fit and has her cast out of the palace. Obviously now there's room for a new queen. So he sends his men out to find this new queen. It sounds almost like a Disney movie, doesn't it? So they gather all the beautiful women from all over the country, they bring them back to the harem where they're going to be given beauty treatments until they're ready to go before the king. Esther just happens to be one of these women brought into the palace. But she keeps her Jewish identity as secret out of fear for

her life. God isn't absent here at all. He's working behind the scenes to make something happen that would never have been possible with cultural norms. He used Queen Vastis' refusal. He used Queen Vastis refusal to the king to begin a process to find a new queen. He made Esther beautiful and the right age at the right time to be taken into the king's palace for his approval. He made Mordecai, her uncle, wise and patient to help Esther advocate for the Jewish people. So what can we learn from the book of Esther about living for God in a world that doesn't honor him? Well, first, God can use people in the most secular, religiously hostile places. He used Joseph in Egypt during a famine.

He used Daniel in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Now he's using a young Jewish woman named Esther to influence hearts and minds inside a powerful country where she otherwise would have been treated as an outcast or worse. Anywhere you are, God can use you. He can use you at work, at school, in your family, or with your friends, no matter how hostile they are toward the gospel. We don't have to be preachers or traveling missionaries for God to use us.

He can use us in the regular everyday circumstances and conversations where we find ourselves. Second, to be a faithful Christian in these places, we might have to be willing to give it all up. You might have to be willing to give up the palace if necessary. See, when Esther discovered that the king had made a decree to kill all the Jews, she was going to have to be willing to give up the palace and her life. She was the only person with potential access to the king to save her people, but she had to risk her identity and her life to save the life of others. If we're going to be faithful to God in the power or the wealth or the circumstances that he's given to us,

we're going to have to be willing to risk it all to be faithful to him. Third, in God's kingdom, the way up is down. All the people in this book that have true wisdom and influence are pretty much the outsiders. And most of them are women, except for Mordecai. Queen Vashti, he refuses the king summons, Haman's wife, of course, Queen Esther, and Mordecai. Even though he wasn't female, he was a Jewish exile. It's the people who don't hold the power here that see things clearly. This is how Jesus taught that the way up

is down. Jesus taught that the way to be powerful is to be a servant, that the way to feel truly wealthy is to be a generous giver, that the way to gain influence is to elevate others, that the way to be full is to pour out in love. God can use ordinary people because he is the true king of the palace. He is the king in all control. Why was this king throwing a party? Why did Vashti refuse him? Why did Esther get chosen? Why was she favored by the king? Why was Mordecai sitting by the city gate over here gossip that helped him win favor with the king? Why was the king unable to sleep one night and decided to read the Royal Chronicles and find out that Mordecai had done something great and have him honored? When these are all questions, the book lays out for us to reveal the sovereignty of God.

And I think it's cool that we get to look for the answer in the book of Esther instead of being told. because we can relate to the feeling about wondering where God is too. Why am I here? Why is this happening to me? What is my purpose in this place? How long am I here? How long does this go on? How do I live faithfully for God here and now? Maybe your life feels like a cliffhanger. Maybe you can't see what he's going to do for someone through you, but you can be confident that God is not absent. He is ever present in your life and always with you. One of the strongest things that God allows his people to do is have the courage to admit that we are completely weak and we need the help of a Savior. Will you ask him to help you today?