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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Monday, 26 January 2025:
Esther 6:1 — On that night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
This verse marks one of the most decisive turning points in Scripture, yet nothing overtly “spiritual” appears on the surface. No prayer is recorded. No prophet speaks. No vision interrupts the night. No miracle breaks the laws of nature. The king simply cannot sleep.
And yet, this ordinary moment carries extraordinary weight. The sleepless night is not random; it is providence operating quietly. God does not need to announce Himself to act decisively. He does not require spectacle to exercise sovereignty. The timing is exact and unmistakable: the very night before Haman intends to request Mordecai’s execution, the king’s rest is disturbed. What appears accidental is actually intentional. The hidden hand of God is already moving, arranging history without noise or display.
This moment exposes a deep and often overlooked truth: history does not turn only on dramatic acts of courage or public moments of faith. It also turns on unseen, unplanned moments no one controls. God governs not only thrones and decrees, but restlessness, insomnia, timing, memory, and attention. When Scripture says that God neither slumbers nor sleeps, it is often precisely so that others do. While Haman plots and Esther waits, God is already at work in the silence of the night.
God consistently orchestrates events to accomplish His will in His timing, often in ways we could never design or anticipate. He works beneath the surface to reveal Himself through outcomes rather than announcements. Looking back, most believers can trace moments where God arranged circumstances, meetings, delays, disruptions, interruptions, that later proved decisive. These encounters with God’s quiet faithfulness become testimonies, shaping us into witnesses not merely of what God can do, but of what He has done.
The king orders the chronicles to be read, not for entertainment, but for remembrance. What human forgetfulness buried, divine timing resurrects. God advances His purposes not by adding new revelation, but by resurfacing truth that was already recorded and ignored. This pattern should sober us. Peter reminds us that God “has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” through the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3). God has already given His people His Word, His Son, His Spirit, His presence, His promises, and His church. In Christ, we are already made new, commissioned, authorized, and empowered as His ambassadors.
Yet too often, believers search for something “more”, a new revelation, a special insight, a dramatic sign, while neglecting what God has already clearly provided. Some chase the miraculous while overlooking the miracle of daily faithfulness. Others pray endlessly for guidance that Scripture has already supplied. Esther 6 quietly confronts that tendency. God is not absent because life feels ordinary. The ordinary is often the very arena of divine activity.
The mundane is not the opposite of the miraculous; it is frequently the vehicle of it. Mustard seeds grow quietly. Bread multiplies in hands already willing to give it away. Sleepless nights move empires. God invites His people not to hunt for signs, but to recognize His presence by abiding in His Word and will right where they are, right now. Faithfulness in small, unseen obedience is often how God prepares great reversals.
This passage also guards us from a common spiritual error: attempting to interpret God’s intentions directly from circumstances. Scripture warns us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). We misread human motives constantly; how much more easily do we misread God’s purposes when anxiety, desire, or fear color our imagination? We often assume hardship signals disfavor and ease signals approval, when Scripture repeatedly shows the opposite. The cross itself forever dismantles that assumption.
God has already told us what to do. Rather than seeking foreknowledge, we are called to seek Him. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Through prayerful engagement with His Word, attentiveness to the Spirit, and obedience in the present moment, we walk faithfully without needing to control outcomes. Jesus explicitly tells us not to be anxious about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), not to live imprisoned by the past, and to seek first the kingdom of God — the active reign of His will — right where we stand (Matthew 6:33).
Esther 6:1 reminds us that we are not victims of chance or prisoners of randomness. God is at hand and at work, even when His name is not spoken and His actions are not immediately visible. Our calling is not to decipher His hidden plans, but to trust His revealed character, obey His revealed will, and rest in the assurance that He is already arranging what we could never orchestrate ourselves.
- John 14:21 — Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
Esther 6:2-3 — And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh…. Then the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?”
This is the long-delayed recognition of faithful obedience. Mordecai had acted rightly years earlier, not for reward, but for loyalty. His faithfulness appeared unnoticed, unrewarded, and forgotten. Yet God never forgets what obedience costs.
The king’s question exposes the moral tension of the book: evil seems to advance quickly, while righteousness appears to wait in obscurity. Haman has been promoted rapidly; Mordecai has been overlooked. But God’s justice is not hurried, and it is never careless.
Faithfulness that appears unrewarded is not unrewarded, it is reserved. God’s timing does not mirror human impatience. The delay is not neglect; it is preparation. When God acts, He often does so in a way that maximizes clarity, contrast, and reversal.
Esther 6:4-5 — And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered… to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged.
The irony is sharp and deliberate. Haman enters the court believing he controls the outcome. He intends to speak death; God intends to speak honor. The intersection is not coincidence, it is orchestration.
This moment reveals how evil frequently misreads reality. Haman assumes momentum equals favor and proximity equals authority. But being near power does not mean one understands it. He stands at the threshold of his downfall while imagining himself on the verge of triumph.
The New Testament echoes this dynamic at the cross. Those who crucified Jesus believed they were eliminating a threat. In reality, they were participating, unknowingly, in the greatest act of redemption. Evil consistently overestimates its control and underestimates God’s sovereignty. Christian, never make the same mistake.
- 1 John 4:4 — You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Esther 6:6-9 — And the king said to Haman, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?”
This is one of the most psychologically revealing moments in Scripture. Haman cannot imagine anyone else as the object of honor. Pride blinds discernment. Self-absorption distorts interpretation.
Haman describes the honor he desires, not what righteousness deserves. He reveals his heart unintentionally. He wants royal garments, a royal horse, public praise, and visible exaltation. He desires recognition without humility, glory without character, elevation without submission.
This exposes the difference between godly honor and counterfeit honor. True honor flows from faithfulness and is bestowed by God. False honor is grasped, imagined, and demanded. Scripture consistently warns that pride not only precedes a fall, it engineers it.
Esther 6:10-11 — Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes… and do so to Mordecai the Jew.”
This is sovereign reversal in its purest form. What Haman intended for himself is given to Mordecai. What Haman planned for Mordecai, death, is postponed and redirected toward himself.
The king’s command is precise and unyielding. Haman must perform the honor personally. Pride is not merely denied; it is humiliated. God does not mock needlessly, but He does expose arrogance thoroughly.
This moment reflects a consistent biblical pattern: God humbles the proud and lifts the lowly. The gospel later proclaims this truth most clearly — Christ humbles Himself to death, and God highly exalts Him. Those who exalt themselves are undone by their own ambition.
- James 4:6 — But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
- 1 Peter 5:6 — Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you….
- Luke 14:11 – “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Haman becomes the unwilling instrument of God’s justice, proclaiming the honor of the very man he despises. Evil is not only defeated; it is repurposed.
Esther 6:12-13 — Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.
Mordecai does not linger in the praise. He returns to his post. His identity is not reshaped by recognition. Honor does not inflate him because humility already grounds him.
Haman, by contrast, collapses inward. His humiliation is not repentance; it is despair. He mourns the loss of control, not the exposure of sin. This distinction matters. Godly sorrow leads to repentance; worldly sorrow leads to self-absorption and bitterness.
Faithfulness is revealed not by how one receives promotion, but by whether one requires it. Mordecai’s steadiness contrasts sharply with Haman’s fragility.
Esther 6:14 — While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared.
The chapter closes with relentless momentum. There is no pause for Haman to recover, scheme, or adapt. Providence accelerates. Judgment moves forward while appearances still deceive.
Haman enters Esther’s banquet believing himself honored, unaware that the structure meant for Mordecai stands ready for him. This is the final mercy before exposure—a moment where repentance could occur, yet pride persists.
The timing is exact. Esther’s courage, Mordecai’s faithfulness, and God’s hidden governance converge. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is rushed. Everything is aligned.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) — 26 January 2025: Examine where you may be tempted to measure God’s favor by speed, recognition, or visibility. Ask honestly: Where am I faithful without acknowledgment, and can I remain so? Where might I be mistaking proximity to influence for alignment with God’s will? Choose one act of quiet obedience today that requires no applause, trusting that God remembers what others overlook.
Pray: “Father, You see what is hidden and remember what is forgotten. Guard my heart from measuring faithfulness by recognition or success. Teach me to trust Your timing when obedience feels unseen and justice feels delayed. Deliver me from pride that seeks control and impatience that doubts Your care. Thank You that You rule even sleepless nights and unnoticed acts. Shape me into someone who remains faithful whether honored or overlooked, confident that You are at work even when Your name is unspoken. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
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