After driving for many hours in the warm car, the rhythm of the wiper blades was almost lulling the driver into a stupor. As the large truck rolled by, it spewed from behind the rear tires a sudden deluge that entirely blinded the driver’s view of the road. Startled, the driver awoke from his semi-dazed state and set forward in his chair. The sudden blindness made the once comfortable driver realize the perilous nature of driving on the wet road. In the same way,
Key Principle: God often uses CRISIS in our lives to re-awaken us to the reality of the spiritual battle we were born into!
“Five Ways to Recognize Spiritual Fog Living”
1: In the fog – Distance from mentors and our spiritual roots will make us insensitive and unaware of the spiritual battle. (1:1-2) Am I attached to my roots?
Esther 4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. 2 He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
Rules of the “Comfortable world” are designed to hide the battle that goes on beneath the surface. We must become sensitive and alert to the battle. Christians need to recognize the reality of spiritual conflict and warfare. We are born in conflict — against the world, against our carnal natures, and against the Devil. We need to learn what Paul told Timothy to do: “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” To be a soldier, you need to get in shape, quit sitting on our surpluses and condition both our spiritual muscles and reflexes. Conditioning your spirit – like conditioning your body - is about what you take in and how much as well as what you output and how much. Further, we must remember to be vigilant – there is an enemy! We must remember the words to the early
followers of Jesus to “be self-controlled and alert” for “your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Someone has said: “There’s no such thing as a sleepy, successful soldier – only dead ones!”.
God has armed His people with weaponry – the belt of truthfulness, the breastplate of right choices, the readiness to stand in the identity of the Gospel and preach the truth, the blocking shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit – which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:10-20). These are God’s defenses for us. One Pastor recently noted something worth remembering… every piece of armor in Ephesians 6 is for the front of the body. Soldiers are protected well only when they FACE THE BATTLE. There is nothing to guard the flaming arrows of the enemy from “nailing us” in our spiritual rumps.
2: In the fog – Disconnecting from the truth – Even though we may be the one God wants to use to deal with the problem – we may be the last to know (1:3). Am I asking about others?
Esther 4:3 In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
Our blessings that were given by God can become the very thing that stops our ears from hearing our Master’s call to action. We bury ourselves in the part of a child of luxury, that we no longer focus on the purpose of the luxury at all. When this happens, our heightened sense of self causes us to drop away from asking about others. Life becomes MORE about our needs – even when it is obvious to all that our needs have been supremely met.
3: In the fog – Delusion of Comfort – Our responses are “dulled” by our own comfort, luxury and position – even when we still truly care beneath the surface (1:4-5). Am I attentive to spiritual needs?
4 Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn
what this was and why it was.
We can delude ourselves by The tender heart is easily encased in responsibilities and demands that make our reactions appear distant and calculated.
4: In the fog – Distance from Urgency – News of the spiritual battle can be seem distant in our setting – making the urgent messages sound like “alarmests” (1:6-8). Am I aware of what God says?
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.
The message, together with the pointed demand to act should have produced more than words – but the sounds of battle seemed far away. We are creatures of comfort that attempt to avoid at all cost any place of discomfort or conflict. Yet, someone has wisely noted: “God’s plan for our lives doesn’t always have us traveling down the path of least resistance. It doesn’t always have us the escaping conflict or dodging the discomfort.”
5: In the fog – Distaste for Commitment – Instead of Radical Response to the need, we can easily focus on the “appropriate response” as measured through our lens of prosperous surroundings (1:9-12). Am I concerned with “appropriate” more than obedient?
9 Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.” 12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.
Wild-eyed prophets abound to tell us to be “sold out” – but that seems extreme to the privileged child. It may be that we have been lulled into sleep by privilege: It happens when a man forgets that God has given him a woman to love and cherish as he promised – a beautiful bride that he was to aid in becoming her best for her Master; It happens when a mother forgets the blessing of that healthy little baby was given to offer her the opportunity to rear a child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It happens when the executive forgets that God has opened the doors of Heaven and showered on him great wealth and comfort to be used to influence others in his culture for the Kingdom. It happens when a nation feels pride and deserving of its national blessing, rather than understanding the blessing was not given for indulgence, but for the use of a mighty God. It happens when a church forgets that the peace and prosperity that made its rise to prominence is not some God-given Divine right, but a time of opportunity to be used strategically for God’s purposes. It happens when a believer drops the guard of his inner disciplines and decides to simply indulge himself with the delicacies of the world, while laying down his battle armor and ceasing to fight for the Lord’s objectives.
Fear can cause us to look past the Battle. Pride can tell us we are too good to be in the battle. Complacency can mask the battle and help us believe it is NOT THERE! ONLY WHEN YOU DISCOVER THE BATTLE AND YOUR DESTINY IN IT ARE YOU A REAL THREAT TO HELL’S PRINCE.
“Meeting God at the Crossroad of Crisis”
Esther had 12 months to prepare herself to meet the king in the first part of the book, 6 months of oils, 6 months of perfumes. Yet her meeting with her destiny to aid her REAL KING took even longer.
CRISIS – We must face the fact that what we have we were given for God’s purposes – to stand against the enemy and tell our Master’s story – not to lounge in His garden and eat for ourselves (1:13-14).
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. 14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
D DAY had arrived. The big play was now being executed. The moment for the preparations of blessing had broken open. She was now confronted with BRUTAL FACTS about the problems and her role in them… The crisis of 538 BCE cleared the fog away and reminded the privileged one of the purpose of her position! Esther was at a PIVOTAL POINT in her life. That moment clarified everything that happened in her life up to that point. She faced death and she faced surrender of life.
In WWII concentration camps men were given “commander’s privileges” to travel between bunk houses, allocate food, care for the dying, give Red Cross packages, and a host of other privileges at the Commandant’s discretion. Some used the privileges for personal indulgence – but real many recognized their privilege was for OTHERS.
Distress is often an opportunity to strip away the fog and see things clearly. There is a spiritual battle going on for our hearts, our families, our community and our nation. We forget when we settle in… WE HAVE A GOD GIVEN ROLE WE MUST FILL.. She had to understand that you being in this crisis is no accident.
As a church, we became a “social institution” in the twentieth century. We cooled the fire of revivalism and the transformation the fire generated and settled into a socially respectable strata of society in the US. Americans are dying because of sexual immorality – but the church cannot speak clearly when its own children are buying the same condoms. We cannot articulate purity and sneak porn. Americans are killing their economy – but the church cannot speak loudly when its people are living regularly beyond their means – and justify everything as a NEED. Americans are killing their families – but the church cannot answer clearly when our men and women won’t treat a marriage commitment with greater sincerity and holiness than the pagan world….
ESTHER WAS BEAUTIFUL ON THE OUTSIDE, but it wasn’t until her eyes were opened to the battle that she showed the extent of her inner beauty - and that will be true of all of us!
Response -
A Change of heart was all that was needed to engage God’s will! (1:15-17)
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.
She showed her heart to be Teachable, Open, Broken and Surrendered: She was teachable in that she changed her actions because of Mordecai’s instructions. She was open in that she called them to assemble together and she alligned her identity with the rest of the Jews. She was broken in that she called for a fast and participated. She was Surrendered in the proclamation: “If I die, I die.”
Edward Everett Hale wrote: “I am only one – but I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse doing something I can do.”
A Pastor I heard one time said, “Never let the fact that God is invisible cause you to doubt the fact that God is invincible.” God often uses CRISIS in our lives to re-awaken us to the reality of the spiritual battle we were born into!
