Esther followed the council of Mordecai and went to the king on behalf of their people. The king asked her on 3 separate occasions what she wished of him, assuring her that whatever it was he would give it to her. Finally, the third time, she answered. She asked that her life and the lives of all her people would be saved, revealing Haman’s plan to destroy all the Jews, which would include herself. The king needed to think things through. It was hard for him to believe that Haman would dare to do such a thing. He believed his queen, but needed time to cool off a little so he could make a decision. When he had regained a little composure, he returned to find Haman making a fool of himself, pleading for favor from the queen. This was by itself beyond what an Oriental king would allow, but added to Haman’s first transgression, it became a capital offense. What irony that Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had constructed for the execution of his innocent enemy, Mordecai.<\/p>\n
Our God has an exciting and uncanny ability to turn events, even at the last minute, into something beautiful. Just when it seemed that the worst was about to happen, God turned it around for good, taking the very thing that seemed so evil and using it as an instrument for good. We also see this in the cross. The cross was a terrible instrument of death used for several hundred years to administer capital punishment. But God used it to bring salvation to a world caught in the death grip of sin. The crucifixion of God’s Son on that instrument of death transformed it into an instrument of hope and freedom for a dying world. The message of the cross brings hope, as Paul the apostle told the Corinthians: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).<\/p>\n
“LORD, we seek to serve You in all we do and say this day, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Esther 7 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.\u00a0\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>thy request? and it shall be performed,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>to the half of the kingdom.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king\u2019s damage.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0 Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And Esther said, The adversary and enemy\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath\u00a0went\u00a0<\/em>into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king\u2019s mouth, they covered Haman\u2019s face. 9<\/sup>\u00a0And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king\u2019s wrath pacified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Esther followed the council of Mordecai and went to the king on behalf of their people. The king asked her on 3 separate occasions what she wished of him, assuring her that whatever it was he would give it to her. Finally, the third time, she answered. She asked that her life and the lives […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7462"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16426,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7462\/revisions\/16426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}