Power to Perceive and feel the Depth of God

Esther 4:

1. When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth, and went out into the midst of the city. And cried with loud and bitter cry;

2. And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth

 

3. And every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping and wailing: and many laying in sackcloth and ashes

Power to Perceive and feel the Depth of God

The decree for the destruction of the Jews has been passed on the 13th of the first month of the thirteenth year of the reign of Ahasuerus – the decree of which is to come into effect on the thirteenth day of the last month of the thirteenth year. It means that a race has been banned under the shadow of death for almost a year – the reality of death of which will come into force for that number of months. It’s an awesome thing to contemplate of a coming death by sword for a whole year; it’s a miracle that the people under the ban of death have not all died before the end itself. They react to the decree the best they can within the limits of their scanty knowledge and faith in the God of their fathers: they wail, put on sackcloth and call for a fast. Although, they’re aware that this is sure death that cannot be averted unless God of their fathers behave to type and step in for their redemption and salvation.

Meanwhile, the king is in the dark that he’s about to destroy the kinsmen of his queen, his in-law!

Mordecai’s reaction is more proactive. Like the other Jews, he puts on sackcloth, which is a sign of repentance; he pours ashes on himself, mourning. He’s not stopping there. He goes to work, at the king’s gate. Yet, he may not go beyond the gate because the king is not one to be pumped into like a well-jolly-good friend everyday. To come to his (the king’s) presence without being invited carries the sentence of death; worse still, to come to the august presence in sackcloth and ashes. It’s an awful thing to do, and it’s not less foolhardy, too. Mordecai grieves hard because a race is about to be wiped out. You may accuse Israel of anything and you’ll be right, but their belief that God revealed Himself to their fathers and that He wanted them for Himself is one thing you cannot take away from them. They knew within them that no matter the threat of pogrom against them, they’d still come up atop, even if remnants. This is knowing and feeling the depth of God.

Mordecai perceived. Lord, I want to be able to perceive Your heart; I want to be able to groan for my race, the race of Christ. I want to feel Your pain, plough the depth of Your mind. May I say this, Lord? I want to touch You where it matters most and receive, from You, the capacity to groan. I must be able to mourn with my brethren, not with my head but with my heart.

Mordecai perceived. Most time, I’m too politically involved to perceive, too partisan to know what You are doing. Not knowing where my peace is ordained, I’ve relied heavily on my intellect, my favourite columnists’ analysis rather than the Holy Spirit. May I receive the grace to know the depth of Your heart, Lord, in all situations, great or small. Let me know how to ask questions from You concerning my world, events taking place on earth. I should be less concerned about rapture and the escathology of the end – this shouldn’t be to me the overarching thing in the mind of God, a thing in itself – but be more concerned about the mind of the Lord every moment of the way.

Mordecai perceived. How did he get to know what the evil one had decided to do? Mordecai’s ears are near the ground. He’s at the king’s gate, where the Lord has put him, though he may not know that it’s God that worked him into that humble place. And I say, Lord, You are free to work me into any place, any situation – pleasant or odious – just for me to fit into Your purpose and thus be pleasing to You. Let me be Habakkuk, learning to stay on my watch tower, to hear what the Lord will say to me, what the Lord will reply me or when I’m rebuked. I should be able to take joy in low places as well as the lord’s elevated positions.

The Jews in Persia and Media kingdom were in the grips of fear, of certain death and destruction. We saw this in the prelude to second World war as Hitler put more than six million Jews to death: young and old; children and women. The Jews have less hatred today: they’re more threatened by their neighbours than the whole world. Over the ages, “the Israel of God” has taken the place of the old Israel and the former is now more of the watched clock of the escathologists than the former. The Lord is angling for a people who will know the depth of His heart in the unfolding events of the world.

Thank You Lord