Esther 8:1-8 - God, Can I Trust You In Your Timing?

PDF Praise Book here Heart of Worship by Matt Redman Here I Am to Worship – Tim Hughes How Great Is Our God by Chris Tomlin Memory Verse

Topic:  God, Can I Trust You in Your Timing / Can I Trust You in Your Plan

Text:  Esther 8:1-8

Memory Verse:  Isaiah 55:8-9

Introduction: 

One of the hardest things to believe in God is that He has His perfect timing.   

Cons:  We have a hard time believing this because we are always in a hurry, we are in charge, and we think we know best.  

Pros:  We only believe this when we are disabled, sick, frustrated, and at best depressed and nowhere to go.  

How did God’s timing work in Esther’s life?   

Read:  Esther 8:1-8,  Describe the story of Esther and God’s timing

The lesson we learn from God’s timing: 

• Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven”

• Examples of missing God’s timing: 

• “You did not recognize the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:44).  They missed the train. 

• A group of Israelites decided to try and possess the land of Canaan the day after God told them the opportunity had passed. They were routed by the Canaanites (see Numbers l4:39-45)

• An example of missing God’s timing.   In Deuteronomy 32:51–52 God gives the reason that Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land: “This is because . . . you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.” God was true to His promise. He showed Moses the Promised Land, but did not let him enter in.

What’s the lesson for me:

1. Be Discerning, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). 

2. Trust God‘s timing.   

1. Isaiah 48:6 - You have heard; look at all this. And you, will you not declare it? I proclaim to you new things from this time, even hidden things that you have not known 

2. Isaiah 43:19.Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?

3. Isaiah 42:9 - Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you 

3. Keep Glorifying God   1 Corinthians 10:31, So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Memory Verse:
Isaiah 55:8-9

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Never Again:  Closing Story:  One of the great disasters of history took place in 1271. Nicolo and Matteo Polo (the father and uncle of Marco) were visiting the Kublai Khan, at that time a world ruler over China, India and all of the East. He was attracted to the story of Christianity as Nicolo and Matteo told it to him and said this to them: “You shall go to your high priest and tell him on my behalf to send me 100 men skilled in your religion, and I shall be baptized. And when I am baptized, all my barons and great men will be baptized and their subjects will receive baptism, too. So, there will be more Christians here than there are in your parts.”

However, nothing was done for about 30 years. Then two or three missionaries were sent too few – and too late. It baffles the imagination to think what a difference to the world it would have made if China had become fully Christian in the thirteenth century and the East had been given to Christ. These men missed the opportunity, and God’s purpose was frustrated.

Could it be that God was trying to create an incredible shift that would have changed the course of history? We may never know, but it certainly sounds possible. It should be our belief and desire that nothing like that will happen in our generation.