Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – God’s Invisible Providence, Part 1

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – God’s Invisible Providence, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Did you realize The Book of Ester never mentions the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: name of God, not once, nor does the author point
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  Speaker 1: to obvious miracles or signs from heaven. Even so, Esther's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: compelling story clearly illustrates the hand of God in rescuing
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: his people from complete annihilation. Thanks so much for joining
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: us for today's insight for living. Because Chuckxundall is launching
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  Speaker 1: a biographical study on Esther, a woman of strength and dignity.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Throughout this study will be reminded that God may be silent,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: but He's always at work. Chuck titled today's message God's
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  Speaker 1: invisible Providence.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: God's presence is not nearly as eloquent as his absence.
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  Speaker 2: His voice, as important as it is at times, is
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  Speaker 2: not nearly as intriguing as his silence. Who of us
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  Speaker 2: has not had the experience of longing for a word
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  Speaker 2: from God, or a sense of his presence, or a
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  Speaker 2: hint of his power so that our physical eyes could
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  Speaker 2: grasp all that, only to find that he seems absent
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  Speaker 2: from the moment, And yet later on we realize how
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  Speaker 2: very present he was. It was far back in eighteen
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  Speaker 2: sixty seven when the Scottish preacher and poet put the
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  Speaker 2: words together. Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light, inaccessible,
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  Speaker 2: hid from our eyes, most blessing, most glorious, the ancient
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  Speaker 2: of days, Almighty, victorious, that great name we praise, And
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  Speaker 2: I love that unresting, unhasting, and silent as light, nor wasting,
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  Speaker 2: Thou rulest in might. Just because God is invisible in
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  Speaker 2: no way means that He lacks anything in his invincibility,
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  Speaker 2: And that is the main lesson of the Book of Esther.
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  Speaker 2: Though absent from the pages by name, he is nevertheless
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  Speaker 2: present in every character and in every movement of historical events,
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  Speaker 2: and finally brings everything to a marvelous climax as he
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  Speaker 2: proves himself lord of his people, the Jews. But first,
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  Speaker 2: let's learn a little theology before we learn some history
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  Speaker 2: from the Book of Esther. My Bible is open to
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  Speaker 2: Romans chapter eleven, the last part of the chapter, because
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  Speaker 2: I want us to gain an understanding, a deeper understanding
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  Speaker 2: of God, so that we might grasp a greater appreciation
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  Speaker 2: for a book that never once names his name, that
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  Speaker 2: is so like life. I'm looking at verse thirty three
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  Speaker 2: of Romans eleven. Oh, the depth of the riches both
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  Speaker 2: of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable
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  Speaker 2: are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. I can't help
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  Speaker 2: but believe that Paul, in writing the Letter to the Romans,
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  Speaker 2: didn't take pen in hand and bear down heart on
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  Speaker 2: the parchment, as he wrote verse thirty three of chapter eleven,
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  Speaker 2: bringing to a climax this grand doctrinal treatise, this personal
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  Speaker 2: credo of the apostle. First, please observe that God has
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  Speaker 2: a mind described in verse thirty three as unsearchable, judgments.
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  Speaker 3: Unsearchable. Says it best.
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  Speaker 2: It defies the human mind to find the depths of
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  Speaker 2: the mind of God. His judgments are the text reads unsearchable.
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  Speaker 3: Theologians will spend.
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  Speaker 2: A lifetime searching out the traits, the characteristics the hand
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  Speaker 2: of God in all scripture and in all of time,
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  Speaker 2: and they will end their lives expressing without reservation that
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  Speaker 2: they have hardly scratched the surface. This is never true
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  Speaker 2: of a human being. This is always true of God.
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  Speaker 2: We can plumb the depths of another's mind, we cannot
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  Speaker 2: begin to scratch the surface of the unsearchable judgments of God.
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  Speaker 2: As the prophet Isaiah wrote, from God, my thoughts are
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  Speaker 2: higher than your thoughts, Isaiah fifty five to nine. Look
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  Speaker 2: at verse thirty four. Who has known the mind of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord who became his counselor those words first fell
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  Speaker 2: from the lips of one of Job's questioners, and later
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  Speaker 2: the prophet himself. He asks, with negative answer in mind,
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  Speaker 2: who has known the mind of the Lord? No one
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  Speaker 2: who has ever given God counsel? No one his mind.
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  Speaker 2: His judgments are unsearchable. Mark that down in your mind,
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  Speaker 2: and never forget it. God also has a will called
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  Speaker 2: here verse thirty three, unfathomable ways no human being can predict,
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  Speaker 2: can plumb the depths of God's will, We cannot unravel
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  Speaker 2: the tapestry of his plan. And yet God never once
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  Speaker 2: knows frustration. He once makes an observation of this world
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  Speaker 2: and scratches his head, if you please, wondering what in
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  Speaker 2: the world is going to do next with a people
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  Speaker 2: like us, or with a nation that seems at odds
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  Speaker 2: with itself, or with another nation. And yet God can
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  Speaker 2: be known deeply in the heart. One theologically minded man
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  Speaker 2: wrote this that God can be known by the soul
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  Speaker 2: in tender personal experience, while remaining infinitely aloof from the
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  Speaker 2: curious eyes of reason.
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  Speaker 3: Constitutes a paradox.
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  Speaker 2: If you come toward God with sheer reason in mind,
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  Speaker 2: you will find yourself stiff, armed, at a loss to
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  Speaker 2: understand his ways. They are unfathomable. But if you come
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  Speaker 2: with open heart in faith, you will find him there
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  Speaker 2: with open arms, ready to accept, to receive, and to
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  Speaker 2: fill you with power.
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  Speaker 3: That's next, the power of God.
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  Speaker 2: It is implied here, but it is stated so beautifully
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  Speaker 2: in Daniel chapter four. So turn from the New Testament
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  Speaker 2: back to the Old, from the writing of an apostle
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  Speaker 2: to the writing of a prophet, from Paul's words to
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  Speaker 2: Daniel's words Daniel four. And I'm looking toward the end
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  Speaker 2: of the chapter. When we think of the power of God,
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  Speaker 2: I think the words sovereign control say it best. God
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  Speaker 2: is in sovereign control, not only of the events in
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  Speaker 2: Paul's day, not only of the events in Daniel's day.
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  Speaker 2: God is in sovereign control in our own day and
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  Speaker 2: in the midst of those circumstances that today have you baffled,
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  Speaker 2: wondering what you're going to do or even how you're
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  Speaker 2: going to go on God's mind, which is beyond searching
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  Speaker 2: his will, which is beyond measurement, it is unfathomable works.
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  Speaker 2: These things work their way out into life in His power,
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  Speaker 2: which reveals itself in sovereign control.
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  Speaker 3: A little bit of history.
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  Speaker 2: This comes on the heels of an incredible experience in
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  Speaker 2: the life of a man named Nebukidnesseer.
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  Speaker 3: He was a king. He thought he ruled the world.
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  Speaker 2: The world in his day was Babylon, this vast empire
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  Speaker 2: that had taken over not only other kingdoms, but had
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  Speaker 2: even consumed the people of Judah, the people of God.
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  Speaker 2: One day he considered himself responsible for all of his achievements,
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  Speaker 2: and he strutted about its kingdom with great delight, with
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  Speaker 2: great conceit and arrogance, And just as the prophet had predicted,
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  Speaker 2: he fell into a time of insanity, where he lived
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  Speaker 2: in the fields like a beast. While there dew fell
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  Speaker 2: on him in the mornings, rain fell on him during
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  Speaker 2: the day, the sun nightfall, day after day, week after week.
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  Speaker 2: For an extended period of time, nebucud Nezzar lost his
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  Speaker 2: reason until God crushed him into realizing that he was
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  Speaker 2: not the God of his life. It was God and
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  Speaker 2: God alone who was to be praised, So that at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the chapter he accepts the fact that
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  Speaker 2: God is indeed the only one who is sovereign, not himself.
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  Speaker 3: Verse thirty four, Daniel four thirty four.
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  Speaker 2: At the end of that period, that is the period
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  Speaker 2: of insanity, I nebucud Nezzar raised my eyes toward heaven,
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  Speaker 2: and my reason returned to me.
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  Speaker 3: Notice what he did. The first thing he did. I blessed.
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  Speaker 2: The most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
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  Speaker 2: whom the immortal invisible. All wise God, the one who
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  Speaker 2: though invisible, is invincible, And while invincible, remains sovereign.
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  Speaker 3: Look at verse thirty five.
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  Speaker 2: All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
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  Speaker 2: and he not high. He does according to his will,
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  Speaker 2: his unfathomable will, guided by his unsearchable mind. He does
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  Speaker 2: according to his will, that's power in the hosts of heaven,
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  Speaker 2: and among the inhabitants of the earth.
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  Speaker 3: Put your name there. He works among the hosts of heaven.
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  Speaker 3: He works in the warp and woof.
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  Speaker 2: In the fabric of everyday life, people like you and me,
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  Speaker 2: in every generation, of every year of every life. And
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  Speaker 2: no one can ward off his hand or shake a
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  Speaker 2: fist and say what do you think you were doing.
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  Speaker 3: No one deserves that right.
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  Speaker 2: We live our lives under the careful, loving, gracious, albeit
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  Speaker 2: sovereign hand of our God, and the movements of time
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  Speaker 2: and history are precisely according to his reckoning, exactly as
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  Speaker 2: he ordained it.
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  Speaker 3: Remember, all the while he is invisible.
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  Speaker 2: Back in World War two, there was some comic character
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  Speaker 2: that continued to write on walls.
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  Speaker 3: Kilroy was here.
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  Speaker 2: And you found it on wall in Germany, you found
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  Speaker 2: it on walls in Tokyo, you found it on walls
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  Speaker 2: in America, as if.
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  Speaker 3: He was omnipresent.
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  Speaker 2: God does not right himself, his name and his presence
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  Speaker 2: on the walls of life, but it is there every day,
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  Speaker 2: every hour. To borrow from Schaeffer, he is there. He
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  Speaker 2: is not silent, and that includes the journey which you
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  Speaker 2: will call your pilgrimage, his unsearchable mind, working in concert
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  Speaker 2: with his unfathomable will, carried out under his sovereign control.
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  Speaker 3: Guess what his presence is made known?
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  Speaker 2: And I think we could call the presence of God
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  Speaker 2: his invisible providence.
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  Speaker 3: Providence trigged with the word.
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  Speaker 2: Provydayoh is the Latin from which we get the word providence,
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  Speaker 2: pro means before or ahead of time, the day Oh.
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  Speaker 3: We get our word video from it.
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  Speaker 2: I see, I see ahead of time, God seeing ahead
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  Speaker 2: of time the events of life, which we, of course
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  Speaker 2: can never do. We're good at history, We're poor at prophecy.
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  Speaker 2: We're good at looking back twenty twenty vision every time,
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  Speaker 2: are often we're blind when it comes to one minute
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  Speaker 2: from now.
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  Speaker 3: We have no idea.
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  Speaker 2: But God provy Dayoh, invisible in his prov Dayoh is continually,
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  Speaker 2: constantly and successfully at work.
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  Speaker 3: You know what.
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  Speaker 2: It drives us crazy. We have highs and we have lows.
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  Speaker 2: He blesses and we thank him. He tests and we squirm,
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  Speaker 2: we weep, we grieve, we cry, we shake our heads.
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  Speaker 3: And in none of this he changes. Who can say
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  Speaker 3: unto him, what are you doing?
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  Speaker 2: We blossom and flourish like leaves on a tree, and
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  Speaker 2: with her and perish. But not changes thee of course not.
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  Speaker 3: He is God.
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  Speaker 2: He is not fickle nor moody. He is having his
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  Speaker 2: way and it will not be frustrated. And, my friend,
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  Speaker 2: if you think he has met his match with you, you
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  Speaker 2: are in for one gigantic surprise. He will bring you,
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  Speaker 2: if necessary, to nothing to get your attention. He will,
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  Speaker 2: if necessary, crush you like Nebukedez are the king, because
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  Speaker 2: God and God alone is calling the shots in this
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  Speaker 2: thing called life.
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  Speaker 3: Now then.
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  Speaker 2: We're ready for Esther. You might wonder what in the
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  Speaker 2: world is Romans eleven and Daniel four have.
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  Speaker 3: To do with Esther.
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  Speaker 2: Otherw I'll give you about ten minutes to find Esther.
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  Speaker 2: Oh there, it is always wonder if my kids have
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  Speaker 2: cut it out of my Bible just to steal a
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  Speaker 2: little sick.
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  Speaker 3: Joke on me on Sunday mornings. There it is Esther.
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  Speaker 3: It's there, but God isn't.
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  Speaker 2: Ask most people what they know of Esther, and those
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  Speaker 2: who know the Bible a little bit, and even those
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  Speaker 2: who know it a lot will say.
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  Speaker 3: God's never mentioned. God isn't there.
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  Speaker 2: It's the only book in all the sixty six where
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  Speaker 2: you will not find God name. There is no prayer
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  Speaker 2: to the name of God. There is no statement that
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  Speaker 2: says He is here.
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  Speaker 3: With his name on it.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was Matthew Henry who said, the hand
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  Speaker 2: of God may not be or the name of God
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  Speaker 2: may not be present in the book, but his finger is.
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  Speaker 3: He is at work.
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  Speaker 2: He's not writing all the way through the book. I
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  Speaker 2: am God, I am in charge. I am working these
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  Speaker 2: things out. I am moving in the heart of the
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  Speaker 2: King Proverbs twenty one to one. I'm taking charge of
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  Speaker 2: this lady. I am moving in the heart of that man. No, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: it's not like that. It's not like Kilroar is here. No,
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  Speaker 2: he's absolutely invisible. But he works through the lives of
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  Speaker 2: five significant people to carry out his mind, his will,
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  Speaker 2: his power, and his presence. And I've got great news.
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  Speaker 2: He's not through.
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  Speaker 3: He's doing the same thing today.
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  Speaker 2: And your name is in the book, and you're part
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  Speaker 2: of the movement and workings of God. Let me introduce
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  Speaker 2: to you the five people who are the main characters
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  Speaker 2: of the book.
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  Speaker 3: The first two verses of the.
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  Speaker 2: Book include the name of a man whose name is
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  Speaker 2: hard to pronounce.
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  Speaker 3: He is the king of the land.
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  Speaker 2: He thinks he's ruling, but it's God and God alone
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  Speaker 2: who rules. It took place in the days of here's
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  Speaker 2: the name a Hazuaras a Hasuaras. It's the same one
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  Speaker 2: mentioned elsewhere as Xerk sees a Persian king named a Hazuaris.
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  Speaker 2: He looks like he is powerful. He is reigning from
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  Speaker 2: India to Ethiopia. Over one hundred and twenty seven provinces.
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  Speaker 2: In those days, he sat on the throne, which was
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  Speaker 2: located in the Washington d c. Of Persia, a place
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  Speaker 2: named Sousa. You'll read about Susa through the book of Esther.
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  Speaker 2: So first we have a king named Ajajuaras or Xerxes,
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  Speaker 2: who sits on a throne in the capital city of Susa.
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  Speaker 2: He's married to a woman named vash T Vashti. She's
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  Speaker 2: mentioned in verse nine as the queen. Queen Vasht also
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  Speaker 2: gave a banquet. She's mentioned again in verse eleven, verse twelve,
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  Speaker 2: verse fifteen, sixteen seventeen. She's seen often in the early
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  Speaker 2: part of the book. Some of you folks will like her.
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  Speaker 2: She is a strong minded, independent thinking woman who refuses
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  Speaker 2: to cooperate.
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  Speaker 3: With her husband's request. Some of you won't like her.
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  Speaker 3: Usually men don't like Vashti.
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  Speaker 2: She's a strong willed woman, independent of mind, who is
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  Speaker 2: determined not to be paraded before Ajajuaris's male friends.
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  Speaker 3: And this leads to a major conflict.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, it leads ultimately to some kind of beauty contest.
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  Speaker 3: We'll look at all of that next time. I'm calling.
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  Speaker 2: Next times sermon there she goes miss Persia, and we'll
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  Speaker 2: introduce that later on. The third character is a wicked
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  Speaker 2: officer in the court of the king named Hayman Hama
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  Speaker 2: in three verses one and two. Get acquainted with Hayman,
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  Speaker 2: you'll hate him. You'll spend a lot of time seeing
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people modeled in the life of Haman.
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  Speaker 2: He is an anti Semitic officer, very wealthy, very conceited
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  Speaker 2: leader who has given influence and even authority. Listen, after
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  Speaker 2: these events, King ajazuaris A promoted Haman. The end of
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  Speaker 2: the verse, over all the princes who were with him
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  Speaker 2: and all the king's servants who were at the king's
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  Speaker 2: gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the
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  Speaker 2: king had commanded concerning him. Verse ten, the king took
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  Speaker 2: his signet ring from his hand. That's like reaching into
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  Speaker 2: your wallet and pulling out your charge card and giving
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  Speaker 2: it to someone under your authority and saying, you may
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  Speaker 2: spend as you please, as you guide this kingdom. You
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  Speaker 2: have the treasury of Persia in your hand. He gave
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  Speaker 2: him the signet ring from his hand. He gave it
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  Speaker 2: to Haman. So Heman is a wicked officer in the
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  Speaker 2: king's court. So we've got a hasuear as a king
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  Speaker 2: vashed to the queen, Hayman, the wicked ruler serving under
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  Speaker 2: the king. Fourth is a man named Mordecai. Go back
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  Speaker 2: to chapter two, verse five.
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  Speaker 3: He is not a.
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  Speaker 2: Persian, he is a Jew living in Persia. Oh wait,
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  Speaker 2: we read in verse five there was a Jew in Susa,
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  Speaker 2: Susa the capital whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jayas,
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  Speaker 2: son of SHEEMII, son of Keisha Benjamin.
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  Speaker 3: Why is he there? Look at the next verse?
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  Speaker 2: Who had been taken into exile? Now that who is
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  Speaker 2: a reference to Kish Mordechai wasn't taken into exile Back
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  Speaker 2: in his genealogy, Kish was. He had been taken into
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  Speaker 2: exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled
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  Speaker 2: with Jekoniah, king of Judah, whom Nebkadnezzar, the King of Babel,
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  Speaker 2: had exiled years before. Years before, the Jews had a
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  Speaker 2: civil war. They broke between the North and the South.
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  Speaker 2: Neither one of the groups walked with God not consistently,
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  Speaker 2: and finally God judged the North and said Assyria in
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  Speaker 2: and brought him under bondage. The South continued on for
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  Speaker 2: over one hundred years, and then God brought judgment because
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  Speaker 2: of their disobedience, and their king was.
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  Speaker 3: A man named Jekaniah.
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  Speaker 2: The Northern Kingdom the Southern Kingdom were called different names.
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  Speaker 2: The Northern Kingdom was called Israel, the Southern Kingdom was
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  Speaker 2: called Judah.
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  Speaker 3: Nebuka Nezzar was.
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  Speaker 2: The commanding king of Babylon that overthrew the Southern Kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: and he brought with him into exile the Jews who
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  Speaker 2: were still living in the Southern Kingdom. Babylon finally fell
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  Speaker 2: into the hands of Persia. So the Jews were forced
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  Speaker 2: out of Zion and they moved in exile to live
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  Speaker 2: in the land of Persia. Now before too many years
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  Speaker 2: they were given the freedom to go back to Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 3: Some stayed in Persia. That's what Ester's all about. It's
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  Speaker 3: a slice of.
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  Speaker 2: History from the life of a few Jews or a
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  Speaker 2: really mini Jews, who remained in Persian under Persian rule
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  Speaker 2: and did not go back to their homeland. Lest you
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  Speaker 2: think God forgot them, the Book of Esther is given as.
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  Speaker 1: A reminder he did not, lest you think God forgot them.
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  Speaker 1: What a phrase, and what a reminder for every one
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  Speaker 1: of us. Who's ever wondered whether God has forgotten us?
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  Speaker 3: Well?
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  Speaker 1: The Book of Esther answers that question in the most
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  Speaker 1: remarkable way, not by shouting God's name, but by tracing
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  Speaker 1: his fingerprints across every page. Chuck Wendall wants to walk
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  Speaker 1: you through this extraordinary story, and inside for Living has
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  Speaker 1: resources designed to help you go deeper the searching. The
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  Speaker 1: Scripture's Bible Study Workbook for Esther is built just for that.
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  Speaker 1: Chuck's teaching has laid the groundwork. Now this resource invites
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  Speaker 1: you to dig in for yourself, at your own pace,
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  Speaker 1: in your own words. The spiral design opens completely flat,
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  Speaker 1: so it sits right alongside your Bible, and there's enough
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  Speaker 1: space to record any reflections or observations of what the
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  Speaker 1: Lord is speaking directly to you. To purchase your copy,
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  Speaker 1: call us at eight hundred seven seven to two eighty
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  Speaker 1: eight eighty eight or go to insight dot org slash offer.
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  Speaker 1: The Old Testament is filled with people like Esther, men
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  Speaker 1: and women who stepped up when the moment demanded it.
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  Speaker 1: Neemiah was one of them. God called him to rebuild
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  Speaker 1: the broken walls of Jerusalem, and the leadership principles he
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  Speaker 1: lived by back then are just as powerful today. CHUCKX.
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  Speaker 1: Wendall's classic book Hand Me Another Brick draws those timeless
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  Speaker 1: lessons out of Nehemiah's story in a way that will
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  Speaker 1: sharpen any leader, pastor teacher, parent or CEO. When you
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  Speaker 1: support Insight for Living with a donation, this book is
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  Speaker 1: our gift to you. Because of friends like you, people
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  Speaker 1: around the world are discovering how to receive God's grace
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  Speaker 1: and how to share it with others. We couldn't do
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  Speaker 1: it without you. You can give a gift today by
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  Speaker 1: calling eight hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: or send your gift and request for Chuck's book on
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  Speaker 1: Nehemiah in the mail. You can write to us at
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  Speaker 1: Insight for Living, post Office Box five thousand, Frisco, Texas,
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  Speaker 1: seven five three four, or go to Insight dot org
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  Speaker 1: slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chucks Wendau
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  Speaker 1: continues his study of Esther, a Woman of Strength and
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  Speaker 1: Dignity Tuesday on Insight for Living. The preceding message God's
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  Speaker 1: Invisible Providence was copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven, two thousand and five twenty eighteen and
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All rights
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