Esther 4 - Moving Forward by Faith

Esther teaches us to trust God’s hidden providence.

The book of Esther tells the story of God’s people living in exile in the Persian Empire. Even though God is never mentioned by name, His presence is felt throughout the preservation of His people in a foreign land. This providence is especially evident in the events that lead an orphaned Jewish girl, Esther, to become queen, where she and her cousin Mordecai eventually expose Haman’s plot to eradicate the Jews to King Xerxes. We pick up where Mordecai shares what he knows with Esther.

Esther 4 (NIV)

4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. ² But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. ³ In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵ Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

⁶ So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸ He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

⁹ Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

¹² When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 28

Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?

A. We can be patient when things go against us,

thankful when things go well,

and for the future we can have

good confidence in our faithful God and Father

that nothing will separate us from his love.

All creatures are so completely in his hand

that without his will

they can neither move nor be moved.

Summary

Esther 4 is the “hinge” upon which this book turns. Esther, a Jewish orphan in exile, has risen to become the unlikely queen of Persia, and now her people face a decree that Haman had concocted to destroy them. Will Esther use her position to save her people?

Except her position didn’t make her task simple—it made it dangerous in its own right. Approaching the king unsummoned meant death unless he extended his golden scepter, and this text reveals that the king hadn’t called Esther for thirty days. She was truly 'between a rock and a hard place' — risk her life by speaking, or risk it later when the decree of death reached her when she is identified with her people.

In this high-stakes moment, Esther and Mordecai had to make decisions based on the information they had, acting by faith in a God who was not giving them prophetic visions but remained hidden behind the scenes. Mordecai’s famous challenge — Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? — highlights the hidden providence of God. Mordecai was certain that relief and deliverance would arise because of God’s covenant promises to His people, but he challenged Esther to meet her defining moment.

She responded by calling for a corporate fast—an appeal for God’s mercy. Her resolve - If I perish, I perish - was not fatalism; it was a commitment to doing what was right before knowing the end result. 

  Dig Deeper  

We often want a detailed roadmap before we step forward by faith, but Esther reminds us that God usually provides the opportunity before revealing the outcome. Even in lower-stakes situations than our text, trusting God's plan will bring peace and confidence.

You may find yourself where God is calling you to trust Him and to publicly align yourself with Him—even if it involves carrying a cross by speaking up about the truth when it might cost you something. It could also be a situation where you or your child risks their starting position on the team because you skip Sunday games for church. Or, like Mordecai, sharing your faith in God's promises can inspire others to trust Him more deeply and step up in their difficult situation.

Finding your place in God’s story involves moving from asking “Why is this happening?” to “How can God use me here?” in your circumstances. Hidden providence means your current job, family, or trial is not an accident. We can move forward trusting that God’s purposes are at work because the most defining moment in history has already happened.

While Esther said, If I perish, I perish, Jesus Christ was willing to actually perish for our sake, knowing the full suffering ahead at the cross. In Gethsemane, hours before His crucifixion, He prayed, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” Because our deliverance is secure in Him, you can trust what God has in store for those who love Him. Even when His plan is hidden from your current point of view, He reveals what is right and true.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the Sovereign God who sustains and governs all things by His power and fatherly hand;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your will aligns with God’s will and that you can be used for God’s greater kingdom purposes in your circumstances today — “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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