Today's Meditation - Monday, September 28, 2020

 Today's Meditation

Read Esther 6:1-14

On that night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king. ²It was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus. ³Then the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵So the king’s servants told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” The king said, “Let him come in.” ⁶So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” ⁷So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king wishes to honor, ⁸let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, with a royal crown on its head. ⁹Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials; let him robe the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.’” ¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, “Quickly, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to the Jew Mordecai who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” ¹¹So Haman took the robes and the horse and robed Mordecai and led him riding through the open square of the city, proclaiming, “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.”

¹²Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. ¹³When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him.” ¹⁴While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

    That evening after Esther's banquet the king could not sleep and he had his records read to him.  When they read about how Mordecai had saved the king from being assassinated, the king wanted to know what honor had been given to Mordecai for such bravery.  They told him that nothing had been done, so the king asked Haman "What should be given to the man who the king wished to honor?"  Of course, Haman thought the king was talking about himself, so he offered advice for the most lavish plans to be given to the man whom the king wished to honor.  He was devastated when he learned that these things were to be given to Mordecai, but he kept it to himself and did what the king ordered.  Only at home, in privacy with his friends and wife, did he mourn for his own downfall that had begun.

    One of the most interesting "coincidences" is the timing of the king not being able to sleep and finding out that Mordecai had not been honored.  I don't believe in coincidence, but I believe in providence.

    There have been moments in my own life where I had that nagging feeling that something was just not right.  It could be about another person, a situation, or a problem.  The answers or solutions to those things has always shown me that there are no coincidences; that I need to always listen to that soft, gentle voice/tugging of the Holy Spirit.

    In Esther, we have that same soft, gentle voice of the Holy Spirit tugging at the king and not allowing him to sleep, directly the script and leading the king to make a very important decision that, in the end, would affect an entire people.  It all began with Esther's request for fasting and prayer.

What is the Holy Spirit softing and gently telling you, today?

Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart