The Mysterious Ways of the God of Wonders 3

PRAYER:

Our Father and our God, we want to thank You for another day and another opportunity to speak to my friends in radio land. I pray now, dear Lord, that You would give every one of us listening ears and touch our hearts by the power in Your Word, in Jesus Name. Amen!

We are continuing with The Mysterious Ways of the God of Wonders. But this time we are going to look at His wonders and His mystery in a different book: the book of Esther.

Esther 6:1-10

¹That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. ² And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ³ Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?”

And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴ So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

⁵ The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶ So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?”

Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” ⁷ And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸ let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. ⁹ Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”

¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”

The Mysteries Ways of the God of Wonders!

The book of Esther is a powerful illustration of the mysterious ways of the God of wonders. Notice that the name of God does not appear once in the entire book in which He manifested His wonders…leading me to conclude that:

1. The manifestation of God’s wonders to you will not be determined by how many times you call His name.

To put it differently, it is not the person who shouts the name of God the loudest and the longest or makes the most noise about God who experiences the mysterious ways of the God of wonders the most. His name does not appear in the whole book of Esther. Ten chapters of the book and yet the wonders of the mysterious things that God did there. We shall see shortly.

Moving in mysterious ways to perform His wonders, I observe that God,

1. Watches silently as some men and women are busy planning evil.
2. God times His interventions perfectly, at the nick of time to counter the plans of evil men and women.
3. God acts and acts decisively without equivocation. By this I mean with no double-mindedness.

God watches silently while some men and women are busy planning evil. God chooses many a time to work noiselessly behind the scenes. For the Jews in exile in Persia God seemed to be silent while Haman, a descendant of Agag the king of Amalek people that had hated the Jews the descendant of Agag out of anger, pride, hatred and resentment was busy planning and perfecting the annihilation of the whole race of the Jews because of one person, Mordecaiah. Haman felt that Mordecaiah slighted him. But how? Mordecaiah refused to bow to him like every other person bow to him. And Mordecaiah refused to bow to him because that was against the command of His God that they should not bow to any man or to anything for that matter. So Haman was not satisfied in dealing with Mordecaiah alone. But he would destroy the whole race. The apparent silence of God and the noise of men calls most people to pay greater attention to men than they do God. The apparent silence of God and the noise of men cause some to trust man rather than God. The apparent silence of God and the noise of men have turned many people into sycophants in search of handouts from men. Those who do not know God well enough are disappointed with Him just because He is not a noisy God. Recall the experience of the runaway prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19

1 King 19:11-13

¹¹ Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

¹³ So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Still small voice! The God of wonders performs His wonders silently behind the scene.

2. God times His intervention perfectly at the nick of time and to counter the plans of evil men and women.

Friends, God is never late. He is right on time always. Mordecaiah, according to the account, saved the king’s life, and was not rewarded for it. But he did not seem to mind. He must have forgotten about it. The bible does not tell us how long it took till the day providentially sleep departed from the eyes of the king. He had what I will call, divinely induced insomnia. In the meantime Haman had concluded plans to have Mordecaiah in his back yard, that is, Haman’s backyard for refusing to bow down to him contrary to the commands of the God of Israel.

God who sees our future as though it were the present had seen Haman’s plan against Mordecaiah even before Haman thought of it. At the right time, He, God, brought Esther to the throne of Persia – the present day Iran. At the right time he struck king Ahasuerus with insomnia a night before Mordecaiah was to be hanged.  At the right time the king asked for the record books from the royal archives where Mordecaiah’s file containing his noble service to the king was gathering dust.

God who works His wonders in mysterious ways was at work.

We will continue from here next time, friends.

PRAYER:

Thank You Father.  Thank You for Your Word. You are the God of wonders. And You perform Your wonders in mysterious ways. May You make Your way plain to us, and may You perform Your wonders in our lives especially those who are listening to me now starting with the wonder of regeneration of a renewing of our sinful nature. Do this, O God, for as many as have not known Jesus yet. In His name: that matchless Name I have prayed, Amen.