Esther 1:1-22

"God's Invitation to a Raging Party"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Esther chapter one is filled with materialism, partying, drinking alcohol and treating a woman like she was a piece of dirt! Our focus was specifically on where is God in the midst of a story where His name is never mentioned, a prayer is never uttered, a miracle doesn't happen and there is no vision? Did God get an invitation to Xerxes 187 day bash? Why does this book of the Bible start out with a raging party that doesn't seem to end?

Even though God isn't mentioned in the text we can see his fingerprints all over the story. Our focus on Sunday was on the fact the fact that God is in all the details of life, even in the raging parties. We talked about Him being present even when it doesn't appear that he got an invitation. He uses the ordinary things of life to accomplish His extraordinary purposes. Too often we look for God in the burning bush and we miss him working in the lives of those who don't love Him.

Our community knows how God uses the horrible things in life for His good. We saw God's grace and purposes through the death of several students at Columbine several years ago. We saw God use the actions of boys who apparently didn't love Him for His glory! \

Even when God doesn't seem to be present...HE IS! God is using the King's partying and the dismissal of his wife as Queen to set the stage for Esther. God is taking a man who wants to display the vast wealth of his kingdom and the slendor of his majesty throughout the land and making him subject to the real King whose majesty is beyond compare.

We closed with a quote from Bono's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. Even though Esther 1 wasn't the text he spoke on, he echoed the message of Esther 1 as he talked about the heart of God being in the everyday horrors of some people's lives as it relates to the aids crisis,

"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. 'If you remove the yolk from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places'"

There is no question for most of us that God is with us when we feel Him during the good times, but we must not forget that He is just as present with us when we don't feel Him or see Him. He is right there in the midst of our loneliness, our pain, our disappointment. He is working all things together for His good!

He's right in the middle of a book of the Bible where His name isn't mentioned!

I can't wait for Esther 2!