Even If. . .

Today I read one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament, in Esther.  The exiled Jews have just heard about the edict against them--that in months, they will be slaughtered, legally, by the government.  Queen Esther's cousin Mordecai delivers a message to her, urging her to go to the king and plead for the lives of their people.  Esther at first gives all the reasons why that will never work.  Mordecai responds: 

“Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.” (Esther 4:13b-14a)

What stood out to me this morning was Mordecai's utter faith that, whether Esther spoke up or not, the Lord would deliver them. As a Jew, he would have known that the Lord had promised to protect His chosen people.  Mordecai had a plan--Esther to intervene with the king--but greater than his trust in his plan was his faith in his God.

I am thankful that we can see Mordecai's humanness.  "When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry." (Esther 4:1).  He didn't just nod and pray and twiddle his thumbs, waiting for divine intervention. He wailed.  He grieved.  He sought out Esther and had to ask her not once, but twice to speak to the king. Once Esther was persuaded, he led the Jews in fasting for her for three days.  

Mordecai was facing certain death if the edict were carried out as written.  He responded with honest emotion, a plan, and faith in a God who might or might not work through the plan Mordecai had conceived.  Where did his faith come from?  The knowledge of the promises of God to be faithful to His people.

Fast forward to me, a 21st century Christian facing not possible imminent physical death, but the possible death of hopes or dreams or security.  I am going to lose loved ones.  The idea I had in my head of what my life would be doesn't seem to be happening.  I have waited and waited and waited for good things that I want (and, truth be told, believe that I need).  Yet I, too, have promises from the Lord as well.  Promises to meet my needs.  Promises to give me the desires of my heart.  Promises that nothing, NOTHING, can separate me from His love:

 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

My plan may not work out.  My idea of how God will work may not be correct.  My desires may not be met in the timetable that I prefer (or at all).  Will I, with Mordecai, have the faith to believe that "relief and deliverance" will rise from God's perfect plan, His powerful execution of that plan, and His purposeful timing in when that plan occurs?  I may not get what I want, but I am promised that the Lord will give me what I need:  "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) 

Ultimately, my truest and deepest needs, for forgiveness and restoration to God, have already been met through Jesus.  Romans 8:32 says:  "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"  The deliverance of my soul has been accomplished, arising from the cross.  I can trust the Lord for everything else, as well.

Questions

Sometimes I come away from Scripture with more questions than answers. Reading in Luke 8 about Jesus healing the man with all of the demons. This man has been an outcast on an island, naked and crazy. Jesus comes and heals him, sending the demons into a herd of pigs. You would think that the observers would be excited and happy, eager to follow Jesus and see what He would do next, or what He would do for them. No. Verses 36-37 say:

And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.

The people were so afraid that they asked Jesus to leave. Why? Were they afraid of what Jesus would do to them? Were they fearful of what belief in Jesus would require of them? Were they scared of what they could not understand? I have thought a little about it, and I don't know. I can't think of a parallel for my life, exactly. I know I have been fearful of what the Lord will require of me, and have kept my heart from Him sometimes because of this, which is comparable to them asking Jesus to leave. . . I just don't know.

Thoughts?

What Do We Want? Deliverance! When Do We Want It? Now!

Continuing in Exodus. Moses and Aaron have just spoken to the enslaved Israelites and told them how the Lord has remembered them and is going to deliver them. Everyone's excited--the people believed and worshiped the Lord (end of Chapter 4). Moses & Aaron head to the Pharaoh to demand that he let the people go. Nope. Pharaoh instead burdens the people with higher and higher requirements on them--no straw to make the bricks, but no lessening of the daily quota.

Reaction of the people (Exodus 5:20-21):

They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, "The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

"Deliverance? Yeah, right. Now it's worse than ever. Time passed since the worship and belief? Doesn't sound like very long in the text--the next day? A few days later?

Moses' response to the Lord (Exodus 5:22-23):

Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all."

Sometimes we think that we are the only generation to be so impatient--and no doubt e-mail, instant-messaging, and cell phones have contributed to our tendency for instant gratification. However, this story shows me that the desire to have what we want NOW is inherent in being human.

The Israelites wanted a good thing. The Lord had promised them deliverance. Yet, it was not a quick or easy deliverance. If someone knows the time span of all 10 plagues, please let me know. The first one lasted a week, and then there were 9 more. Pharah said "Yes", then "No", and then the whole cycle started again. Even when the Israelites were let go, then they were pursued by the Egyptians. Even after the Egyptian army was destroyed, they had to travel in the desert. They had to fight battles. Then they complained, disobeyed, and denied the goodness of God, and added 40 years to the experience. Were they delivered? Yes. Was it quick? No.

The verse that jumped out at me most was Moses saying to the Lord that He had not delivered His people at all. Moses immediately decided that God had not done what God had promised. So often I don't give God time to work--I pray, and then, if the request is not granted in 24 hours or less, well, then God didn't do it. We are so impatient to want answers yesterday.

On the surface the premise can be discouraging--yes, God sometimes gives specific promises to deliver us from our circumstances. Does He do this quickly? Sometimes. But there are many examples in the Bible of long-term trials: The Israelites in the desert. Joseph in prison. Job. We know the ending of those stories--that deliverance arrives. I need to have faith in my circumstances that deliverance (one way or another) will come, but it's just not here yet!