Honor to whom honor is due

Honor to whom honor is due

Why would Mordecai refuse to bow to Haman?  The background is complicated so let me try to give the simple version so I can make my point about honor.  In the days of Saul, God instructed him to clean out the Amalakites from the region.  Saul won the battle in 1 Samuel 15, but spared King Agag against God’s instruction.  As Saul was the son of Kish, a Benjamite, so was Mordecai.  Since Saul’s mercy resulted in the survival of this insufferable leader named Haman, Mordecai refused to give honor to a man who should not have survived the purge of God by Saul 500 years earlier.  This gives me three questions I must ask and answer to understand this story.

1)      Should honor have been given? According to Romans 13 we are to be subject to those in authority over us.  We are bound by God’s moral law to be obedient to the laws of the land.  If we are in violation, we face the penalty and make things right!  We are not exempt nor do believers claim that political leaders have no right to govern.

2)      If honor is withheld, why?  So far, all we have seen of Mordecai is submissive behavior and his advice to Esther.  When the plot to assassinate Xerxes was uncovered, it was Mordecai who reported it to save the King’s life!  This does not sound like a man who is seeking revenge or trying to express rebellion. 

3)      If civil disobedience is chosen how do we deal with the consequences?  We will never know, but I can imagine that Mordecai was very well aware that his refusal to bow before Haman had been noticed and reported.  Mordecai knew that Haman held the power of death in his hand and the willingness to exert that power in his heart.  Mordecai did not shrink from his convictions just because the price was high – he felt that honor was not due so he did not give it!            

Since Mordecai did not refuse because he was rebellious or prideful or sullen, we must believe his risk of the King’s displeasure had to be based in something else.  Mordecai faced death at the hand of Haman and only sought the Lord’s deliverance as the wrath of Haman exceeded himself.  Haman sought to reverse the Lord’s instruction regarding Amalakites and instead this descendant of Agag would have the last laugh on Jehovah by annihilating the entire Jewish race! 

However, God will not be defeated!  I don’t care if you are as powerful as a Pharaoh, as angry as Haman, or as big as Goliath!  God will not lose!  We must not be afraid to accept the role of objector and we must not be reluctant to bear the consequences of our choices. 

There may come a day when our choices are:  concede our convictions and bow or remain standing to be counted by God and targeted by men.

All history is God's history

Why is all history God’s history?

As early as Augustine, it has been held by the tradition of faith that “All truth is God’s truth.”  Yesterday I stated that I believe that “All history is God’s history.”  Is this so?  I have read and heard so many through the years present Biblical accounts as though they occurred in some sort of vacuum!  Like the Bible events and stories were separate from the rest of world history.  This is not so!  In fact, God is obviously working in all events around the world toward His conclusions.  God acts and reveals Himself in all of world history, not just in short Biblical vignettes.  We should draw some obvious conclusions from this truth:

1)      God has worked in the past, even if unrecognized or unnoticed. (i.e. Esther)

2)      God works in the present in such subtle ways that His hand seems circumstantial.

3)      God will work in the days to come even if men refuse to acknowledge His will is being accomplished.

History becomes the lasting witness of divine purpose and meaning.   History must not be perceived or presented as merely a tangle of unrelated events that seem to fortunately stumble toward a divine outcome.  I am convinced that the believer on a journey of faith must see the signposts of God spread across the roadmap of time and geography.  This observant spirit must not be limited to the narrow band of Biblical essay and the concurrent times that the world and Bible characters intersect.  God is at work in all places at all times!  For example, how devastating would it be to discover that the Romans did not use crucifixion as a method of capital punishment?  Or that the battles of Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks or Romans did not match the overlay of the Biblical text? 

I do not try to invent a God explanation for every event, though I am sure there is one.  I am content to wait for God to reveal Himself through the everyday and common.  By faith, I accept the overarching themes of history – those revealed in Scripture, those unveiled in my daily life and those inscrutable events yet to be understood in the wisdom of God. We may guess at a purpose or scratch out crude outlines of our projections, but beware that we do not lock God into a plan that is not His plan.

This is the warning – seeing the patterns of this supernatural weave may not be fully discernable by mortal and finite minds.  However, take heart!  We will have all eternity to hear this story of history explained to each believer by the author of time and purpose.  I live daily with the trust that, while I do not see all, by God’s Grace I see enough to trust Him for the unseen!  I still believe that all truth is God’s truth and all history is God’s history!

Musing on Esther

Musings on Esther

Why would God be so hard to find?  I have been amused as scholars through the centuries have tried to ‘find’ God in Esther.  Some claim new names given in this book while others look for a hidden acrostic. (*and find usually only 4!)

If Psalm 19 declares that God is bigger than the universe and more obvious, why so subtle in this great story?  God does not seem to be hard to find in the earliest days of Eden or with such Bible greats as Noah, Abraham, Isaac or Jacob.  God seems in full force with both Moses and Joshua from Mt. Sinai to the battlefields of Canaan.  Yet, when we get to Esther we fail to see His name or namesake openly mentioned. 

What are we looking for?  This is a great question!  In Jesus day, the Jews longed for a sign, in spite of many miracles and teachings.  For three years Jesus walked, taught and demonstrated that He was the Son of God.  What could be more obvious than the resurrection of Jesus?  The early church had confirming signs that authenticated the Apostles as those who had been with Jesus.  They wrote these experiences down by Inspiration for believers to embrace.  This launched the church into the centuries that have followed to this day.

There are those who would still seek additional confirmation even today, yet I believe this actually lacks faith.  I see the Scriptures claiming a sufficiency that is called into question if we need more proof.  By seeking an extra-Biblical confirmation, I am shouting at Heaven that the Book is not enough!  I would be calling into question, that what God has given me is inadequate and insufficient to live a life of faith.  Trust me, the Book is enough!

Now, back to Esther – why so obscure?  I am reminded of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”  Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Some books are filled with the obvious appearances and voice of God like in Genesis or Exodus.  Other books demonstrate a more subtle but still present God like Jonah or Hosea.  Esther’s story is not the ‘wind’ nor the ‘earthquake’ or even the ‘fire’ – instead the Divine is wrapped in this beautiful novel as the ‘gentle whisper’ of God.  God is softly inquiring of each to serve “for such a time as this!”  Shhhh.... do you hear Him?

*Article on Hebrew acrostic letters http://www.angelfire.com/nv/TheOliveBranch/append60.html