The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Did you know sometime when you sleep God is working it out? When you think nothing is happening, God is working it out!

Narrator: Dr. Tony Evans says even when the Lord doesn't seem close by, His providence proves that He's as near as our next breath.

Dr. Tony Evans: You can call that luck if you want to, but I know it was the invisible hands of God working it out!

Narrator: This is The Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

It seems like some people can't catch a break, while others have everything handed to them. But Dr. Evans says there's nothing random about who you are and what you have. Today we'll discover the part that God's providence plays in all of that. Let's listen.

Dr. Tony Evans: In most kitchens represented in this room, if not all, there are blenders. These blenders are designed to take independent foods and integrate them, unite them to create something new, bigger and better than any one item could be on its own. God is the consummate blender. His ability to take unrelated things to come up with something bigger, better and more beautiful than what he started with is absolutely amazing.

No story in the Bible illustrates God's ability to do that like the book of Esther. The book of Esther is unique in all of the Bible because it is the only book in the Bible where God's name is not found. But while the name of God is not present in the book of Esther, his fingerprints are everywhere.

There is a word for this in theology. The word is providence. Providence is the hand of God in the glove of history. It is the work of God whereby he integrates, blends events in the universe in order to fulfill his original design for which it was created. Providence refers to God's governance of all events so as to direct them toward an end.

So God takes a step back in the book of Esther. He does not even allow his name to be used, since its context is a people living outside of God's will, in order to teach us something about God through the life of a diva. He uses the life of a young lady who's described in chapter 2, verse 7, this way. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now, the young lady was beautiful of form and face. And when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

In the first three chapters, we've got a pretty girl who catches the eye of a king because his first wife wouldn't do right. It's just a story of life. We've got intrigue because we've got a man being promoted, a man who won't bow to the man being promoted, and the man who's been promoted wants to kill the whole race of the man who won't bow.

The woman who catches the eye of the king is the cousin of the man who won't bow, Mordecai. Mordecai has raised her up because Esther's mother and father have died. So what you've got are life situations. What you've got are life scenarios. What you've got is a soap opera. A law gets passed at the end of chapter three, and the law by King Ahasuerus says, "Kill the Jews." Haman wants them dead; get rid of them.

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. Mordecai sends a message to Esther that the destruction of the Jews has been ordained, and then he sends the message to Esther in verse 11 of chapter 4.

All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, and that is to be put to death unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come before the king these 30 days. They reported Esther's words to Mordecai.

Mordecai sends a message to Esther, who's now living in the palace with the king. Now is the time to tell him who you are. I told you to keep quiet before; this is not a keep-quiet moment. The Jews are up for genocide. They're going to destroy us. Now is the time to reveal who you are.

Esther writes back, "Mordecai, you don't understand how things work up here in the palace. Because up here in the palace, you just can't go into the king like that. In fact, me and the king haven't hooked up for 30 days. We're not even talking right now. We have issues going on in the palace, and for 30 days, me and the king haven't been... and if you walk in and the king's ticked off at you, and you walk in and he doesn't hold out that scepter, they're going to kill you."

You don't understand, Mordecai, I come from rags to riches. I've come from walking to a Mercedes chariot. I have come a long way. And what you're asking me to do is risk my future and my well-being for y'all. I don't live with y'all no more. I live in the king's palace. My name is Esther; I'm a star. I'm big-time now, so I don't think I can facilitate y'all.

I can't help y'all right now because it's too risky. She said it's risky going before the king because I might lose everything I have and I like my life. I like how I'm living; I like how I'm treated. I had to wash stuff by myself, now I got maids to do stuff for me. I didn't have any money when I was living with you, now I got more money than I could ever spend. You don't understand, life is fine for me. I'm sorry for y'all, and I hope y'all work it out.

She said that because if I go before him and he doesn't hold up the scepter, I'm going to risk losing it all. Mordecai gets the note, and he has a note. His note is in verse 13. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther: "Do not imagine... let's put it this way, don't think for a moment that you living in the king's palace can escape anymore than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, deliverance rises for the Jews from another place, and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" There it is right there.

He says, "Esther, you do not understand. You think because you're not willing to act, God's not going to act." He says, "Don't think you're going to escape by keeping quiet." One good-looking diva is not going to stop God's program. I don't care how good-looking you are, how rich you are, how upper crust you are. I just want you to know, if God can't use you, he will find somebody else. He makes a very powerful statement that everybody in this room needs to know, and that is: God don't need you.

What he's saying is Esther had not made the connection between her beauty, her opportunity, and the kingdom of God. She had not understood that how she looked and the position she now holds was tied to a kingdom purpose. She wasn't just to look good so she could dress up. God had placed her in a position of influence to deliver his people.

It wasn't just about her car, her clothes, her furniture, her lifestyle, or her bank account. Have you ever considered that maybe God has you here in the kingdom for such a time as this? That everything that's happened till now was moving to this point.

Narrator: Dr. Evans will take us right to the turning point of this story when he continues our message in just a moment. First, though, I want to tell you about a helpful resource that provides added perspective to today's lesson. It's Tony's popular book, Kingdom Heroes, and it takes a close look at the lives of ordinary people in scripture who chose to trust God and saw him do extraordinary things through them.

If you've ever wondered whether your faith is strong enough or if your past has disqualified you from God's blessings, this book will help you see how God works through people who are willing to take him at his word.

And right now, as our thank-you gift for your support of this ministry, we're bundling the Kingdom Heroes book together with all eight full-length messages in Tony's current teaching series called It's Not Too Late. This powerful collection reveals how God can step into your life, no matter how off track it may seem, and rewrite your story with hope and purpose.

This exclusive offer ends this week, so be sure to request it when you visit tonyevans.org or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222, where one of our resource team members will be happy to help. That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans will return with more of today's message right after this.

It was my first time meeting Jesus in the Bible. That's what one student is saying after studying bibliology through the Tony Evans Training Center. Taught by renowned theologian Dr. Tony Evans, these online courses feature compelling and exclusive video and audio teaching, plus an interactive scripture-based curriculum you can access online or through the mobile app. Sign up now at tonyevanstraining.org. Take a course with Dr. Evans and explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. tonyevanstraining.org.

Dr. Tony Evans: The kingdom is the rule of God, the purposes of God, the agenda of God. In the kingdom, one thing matters, and that is this: you are blessed to be a blesser. You've been blessed with good looks, you've been blessed with a unique opportunity to be in the king's palace, and now that you've been blessed, all you're thinking about is you.

God never blesses you just for you. Let me say that again. God never ever blesses you just for you. The quickest way to cut off your blessing is to keep your blessing just for you. She was thinking in the mind of this diva; her mind was: I can't risk where I am for y'all.

Because she didn't make the connection to the kingdom of God and therefore was not taking the risk for the program of God. And so what Mordecai wants her to know is if God can't use you, you're not going to stop God. I hope you understand this. God can make it without you.

He says you've attained royalty for something bigger than you. So she sends back the word to Mordecai: "Go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, fast for me, do not eat or drink three days, three nights. I and my maids will fast." And then she utters those famous words: "I'll take the risk; if I perish, I perish."

You take the risk for business, you take the risk for other things, why not take a risk for God? Why not take a risk to be used of God and allow the opportunity and the occasion that he has given your life to have an eternal benefit?

She now goes in and is preparing to go to her husband while Haman plots the destruction of the Jews. Haman is decided; he's building gallows now to hang Mordecai as a prelude to killing all the Jews. He wants to get rid of them.

The book hinges on chapter 6, verse 1. During that night, the king is tossing and turning. "I can't believe it, I don't know why I can't go to sleep tonight. I need somebody to read me to sleep." The record keeper comes, he flips pages and decides to just read a page to the king.

It was found written in verse 2 what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers, bodyguards, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. The king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?"

Then the king's servant who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him." If Mordecai saved my life, I better do something for Mordecai. To make a long story short, he calls Haman in. "Haman, let me ask you a question. Haman, I want to know something. If there was somebody great in the kingdom who had done a great thing, what should we do for somebody great?"

Bible says Haman thought Ahasuerus was talking about him. So he said everything he could think of. "I'd buy him a house, I'd buy him a car, I'd buy him a boat, I'd give him a big bank account, I would hold a banquet, I would hold a party." He said, "Good idea. Why don't you go set it up so that we can have it for Mordecai?"

Wait a minute. All this happened because the king couldn't go to sleep. Let me tell you how great God is. God works behind the scenes keeping folk awake when they ought to be sleep when you decide you take a risk to be used by him. Haman now has to set up a party after he'd been building a gallows for the guy he's trying to kill.

I believe the Bible says God will make your enemies your footstool. I believe the Bible says that. God has a way of doing things. I used to work at Trailways bus station, and they had this thing going on when I was going through seminary where you punch out in the middle of the night. I did the dead man's shift; I worked all night. So you punch out for breakfast, but then they would punch you in an hour later when you're supposed to be in, but you would go to sleep.

So you could go to sleep for three or four hours, but you'd be punched in, being paid. Well, they came to me and said this is the scam and everybody participates in it. So they were just telling me this is the way it works. So I could go along with the program or I could take a risk.

Well, as a Christian and somebody preparing for the ministry, I said I'm sorry, I can't do that. They said, "But no, you don't understand, everybody does this. And if you don't do it, then you are hindering the whole program." Well, I said as a Christian, I'm sorry, I can't do that as a follower of Jesus Christ.

What they then did was set in motion a series of things to make life rough for me, like when the buses came in and I was supposed to be unloading them with four other guys, the four other guys would sit down and let me unload them by myself as punishment for not going along with the program.

So I was under punishment. I was having to work double duty, double time, unloading buses because I wouldn't go along with the program. I took a risk of not going along with the program because of kingdom values that had set in. I took a risk, but the risk looked like it was working against me.

"If I perish, I perish," and I was perishing because it was killing me doing this by myself and no other help. And it's at nighttime, so nobody knows what's going on. About a month after this had happened, I got a call to come to the office of Trailways bus station.

I went to the office wondering when I got off at seven in the morning, wondering what did they want me for. And they said, "Can we talk to you for a minute?" I said, "Yes, sir." He says, "Unbeknownst to the night shift, we have had one of our supervisors coming around at night. We are aware of the scheme that they have been working to punch folk in even though they were not working while they were asleep."

He says, "And we also noticed you weren't participating. We also noticed you weren't part of the plan. So we have decided to raise you up and make you the night supervisor over everybody else in the company." God was working behind the scenes.

I didn't know there was a night supervisor, but God had worked that thing out so that my enemies became my employees. My enemy became my footstool. I'm telling you, God can work it out, and he can work it out at nighttime.

Did you know sometime when you sleep God is working it out? Did you notice sometime when you think nothing is happening, God is turning all kind of things and twisting all kind of things to work it out?

When we were in a DeSoto school and they told us we had to leave the school because we could no longer stay in the school and we were there and we didn't have any place to go, we pleaded with them to let us stay in the school a little while longer. But there were some enemies on the school board who said, "We're not going to let you stay in the school."

It was time for the meeting, but the votes were against us. We sat in the parking lot and prayed in the car and said, "Lord, only you can turn this thing around." We went inside and we waited and we waited and we waited for the meeting to start, but the meeting didn't start.

They came out and told us that they'd decided to let us in the school. How come? Because the people who were against us got stuck on the highway because there was a traffic accident that blocked them from getting to the meeting.

Now, you can call that luck if you want to, you can call that chance if you want to, but I know it was the invisible hands of God working it out. I'm telling you, he can work it out, and he can do it in such a subtle way. Wait a minute, I ain't finished yet.

So God don't need a diva now. He don't need somebody too cute to be used, too sophisticated to be used. So he makes a party. Watch this now. Bible says that Haman went home and cried like a baby. He had to make up a party for the man he was getting ready to hang. He goes and cries like a baby.

And when he does, Esther says, "I want you to preserve the Jews from someone who wants to kill them." Ahasuerus says, "Who wants to kill the Jews?" She says, "Haman wants to kill the Jews." He got ticked off at Haman, had to walk outside to think of what he was going to do.

Haman comes over and grabs the queen to plead for his life. But Ahasuerus comes in and sees his arms wrapped around his wife. He said, "Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. Oh no you didn't. You mean to tell me I'm in here thinking about whether I'm going to let you live or die and you're going to be groping on my woman? Oh no!"

The Bible says before he had a chance to utter a word, they came and put a tape over his head, and then it says, and they hung him on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. God is able to turn it around. He's able to turn it around. If he can use you, he can turn it around.

Narrator: Dr. Tony Evans talking about how God can turn around even the most desperate circumstances in a message he's titled "Esther: The Diva God Used." Today's message is part of Tony's current eight-part series, It's Not Too Late.

You can get the full-length version of this lesson along with all the others in the series, including content we won't have time to present on the air. Simply request the series called It's Not Too Late when you make a donation to support the ministry.

And as I mentioned earlier, through this week only, we'll also include a copy of Tony's popular book, Kingdom Heroes. Together, these resources will encourage you to trust God deeply and remind you that no matter where you've been or what you've faced, he's still able to do something meaningful and significant in your life.

Get all the details and make your request today at tonyevans.org. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where someone is always available to assist. That number again, 1-800-800-3222.

And a quick reminder that you can hear Dr. Evans in a completely different setting as he hosts in-depth conversations with special guests on his Unbound podcast, available anytime wherever you get your podcasts.

The recipe of faith has only one ingredient: God. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans talks about the trouble one biblical character got into when he tried adding some spice to the mix. I hope you'll join us for that.