Esther 4 - Man's Responsiblity

Although God is sovereign, He has given man a free will and the intelligence to make decisions. We have the choice of obeying or disobeying Him. We talked earlier about recognizing who God is and accepting Him as our Savior. Our decisions and choices don’t end there. Even as Christians we make daily choices to obey Him or disobey Him. God never forces His will upon us, but He wants us to be obedient. In I Samuel 15:23 He spoke through the prophet to Saul “to obey is better than sacrifice”.

You may say I want to be obedient but I don’t know what to do. I’m reminded that when Jesus was asked what are the greatest commandments He replied “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matt 22:37; Deut. 6:5).” He went on to say “and a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:39; Lev. 19:18).”

In John 15:9-17 Jesus teaches more about love. First He tells us He loves us just as the Father loves Him. Then He explains that if we obey His commandments we will remain in His love and as we do that our joy will be complete. We are to love each other as Jesus loves us. Then He explains the extent of His love by saying “Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.” Love means “desiring the best” and Jesus knew that the best possible thing for us was to be able to spend eternity with Him. He loved us so much that He was willing to pay for our sins by dying on the cross so that we might have eternal life. Think of how much God loved us when He was willing to send His only son, Jesus to the earth to pay that awful price.

We show our love for Him by being obedient to Him. A part of that obedience is studying His Word and acting on what we learn. Another part is praying to Him on a continual basis. Jesus knew however that since we have a mind of our own we, at times, will be disobedient. He provided a way for us to return to a right relationship with Him. He tells us in I John 1:9 that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Each time we recognize that we have sinned we need to ask for forgiveness and claim that verse.

Esther had a choice to make. Mordecai had requested that she go to the king. Notice that he said in 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place…” I think this passage says that God’s will is going to be accomplished whether or not we obey Him. We have the privilege of being obedient and receiving the blessing of carrying out His will. If we don’t we will miss the blessing but His will is still going to be accomplished.

Notice Esther’s response. She asked Mordecai to get all the Jews together and fast for three days and indicated that she and her maids would do the same. The primary purpose of fasting is to give complete attention to God so that you may determine His will. Esther was willing to risk her life and go to the king, but she wanted to make sure that was God’s will and also wanted to ask for His protection and leading as she went.