A Study in the Book of Esther : Lesson #5 A Lesson in Patience and Trust in the Lord

In this study from the book of Esther we will see a good lesson on having patience and trusting in the Lord. In the book of Esther and especially in chapters 6 and 7 we see the hand of God moving behind the scenes to work in the lives of Esther and Mordecai. Many times God does the same for us. He is right there moving behind the scenes even though we do not realize it. We just need to have more patience and trust in the Lord a little more and let him do what he thinks is best.

In the passage we see that Haman has returned from the first banquet and that he has built a gallows and on the very next morning he plans to go and speak to the king in regards to hanging Mordecai on those gallows.

That very night the king cannot sleep and he calls someone to read to him out of the books of the records of the chronicles. The place where they were reading from was about the time that Mordecai saved the kings life when the two chamberlains had planned to lay hands on the king. So the king asked what was done for Mordecai and they told him nothing.

Then in the morning when Haman came to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai, the king asked him what should be done for the person that the king wanted to honor. Haman thought that the king was talking about him and so he came up with a whole list of good stuff and then had to do all of those things to Mordecai (Esther 6:6-12).  Later that day at the banquet Esther tells the king that Haman is the one who is trying to kill her and her people. Haman then gets hung on the same gallows that he built for Mordecai.

The key thing to see is that God was behind the king not sleeping and also behind where the chronicles were read from just in time to get Mordecai out of trouble. This is a beautiful picture of God’s unseen hand moving behind the scenes to accomplish his purpose. We see in Proverbs 21:1 that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord and that turns it which way he wants it to go.

Even though it is hard to set by and do nothing we should strive to have more patience and learn to trust in God. A good passage for us concerning these things is Romans 5:3-5. Let us look at this passage for some help in regards to this subject.

1)  Tribulation brings patience (Romans 5:3)

• This is why getting patience is very hard because it comes through tribulation and nobody enjoys tribulation.
• Just as Mordecai endured tribulation we must do the same. But the word of God tells us that the trying of our faith worketh patience (James 1:3).
• One way we can use to endure tribulation and trials of our faith is to look at example in the word of God to see how God delivered others such as Mordecai. This is one of the reasons why we have the Old Testament (Romans 15:4).

2)  Patience produces experience (Romans 5:4)

• Once we have been through a trial and seen God helps us then we have an experience to lean on for the next time.
• James used the illustration of Job and referred to the “patience of Job” and noted that we have seen how God blessed Job in the end. In the end Job got his children back and double on all his possessions (James 5:11)

3)  Experience produces hope (Romans 5:4)

• Hope is connected with trust in the Lord. After we have been through some trials and gained a few experiences then the next time that trouble comes it will be much easier to trust in the Lord for our help.

Our ultimate goal is to trust more in the Lord and look to him for our help. Here are a few verses that deal with trusting in the Lord. May we use them to learn patience and trust in the Lord just as we see in the case of Esther and Mordecai.

Psalm 4:5 (Here we are told to offer sacrifices of righteousness but to trust in the Lord)

• For us this means do what right and trust in God no matter what else happens.

Psalm 20:7 (Here we are given a warning against trusting in things of this world)

Proverbs 3:5-6 (Here we see that we can trust God even when it doesn’t make any sense)

A Study in the Book of Esther : Lesson #5 A Lesson in Patience and Trust in the Lord

Handout

1)  What do we see in these two chapters that are very beneficial to our lesson?

2)  Who do you think is the one who caused the king to not be able to sleep? Give a verse of scripture that goes along with your answer.

3)  What is so crucial about the timing of the king not being able to sleep?

4)  What is a good passage for Patience and trust in the New Testament for us to use?

5)  What does Tribulation produce? Give some scriptures to go along with this.

6)  What does Patience produce? Give a scripture to go along with this.

7)  What does Experience produce and what can it be connected with?

8)  Give a small chain reference for trust from the word of God.