ESTHER

elieves in God if he is not ready to obey God rather than men (Acts
5:29). Those whose lives are governed by the fear of God will not be
found doing just as others do, even for "peace sake." It may seem to
some "men-pleasers" but a trifle, yet if he had yielded on this point he
might never have been lifted up to the place of national honor that was
afterwards his.
IV. Despised. "Then was Haman full of wrath" (chapter 3:5); and when
he learned that Mordecai was a Jew he "scorned to lay hands on him
alone," and sought to destroy "all the Jews" (chapter 3:6). But after laying
his plans for the destruction of the Jews he was persuaded by his wife to
hang Mordecai on a gallows fifty cubits high (chapter 5:14). All this
wrath and proposed blood-shedding because one man had courage and
conviction enough not to violate his conscience and deny his God. Is the
game worth the candle? No, says the man who walks by sight, and not
by faith. But what says the Lord by His wonderworking providence? If
any man will live Godly he must suffer persecution, because he will be
guided and controlled by motives and principles that have no place in
the affairs of the selfish and ungodly. This is where the shoe pinches,
unless it is a good fit. The man of God will never feel comfortable in the
shoes of a man of the world, and not to be in the world's fashion is in
itself a cause of offence. "But blessed are you when men shall revile you
for My Name's sake;" great is your reward in the heavenlies.
V. Tested. "He rent his clothes... and went into the city, and cried with a
loud and bitter cry" (chapter 4:1). The death sentence had gone forth
against him and all his people. It was a most terrible experience. His
sackcloth and agony awakened the compassion and inquiry of the
queen (chapter 4:4, 5). He was sorely cast down, but not destroyed, for
his faith in God was unfailing. "If you hold your peace," he said to
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