Is God at Work in Vegas? Esther Part 4. Turning of the Tide.

Read Esther 5

• What stands out to you?
• What observations or questions do you have about the text?
• What might this mean for us?

Watch -Right Now Media: The book of Esther – Danielle Brown session four

Discuss

It is striking in Esther that the king frequently enters into important decision making when he is drinking. Ecclesiastes 10:16-17 and Proverbs 31:4-5 warns against making important decisions after the king has been feasting/ drinking.

• Under what circumstances do you make your best decisions?
• What is your strategy for avoiding making poor decisions in the moment, or negotiating a delay so you can make a more considered decision later?

Esther risks her life to invite the king and Haman to a feast, but then when it comes to the point of making a request, she simply invites them the next day.

• Do you think this was stalling or strategic, losing her nerve or working the plan?
• Can you share a story of when you have read the room and realised that your plan for the occasion was the wrong one, and you needed to quietly change the plan?
• How has God led you to change your plans, and what did that look like?

Haman seems to let Mordecai’s choices undermine any satisfaction he can gain from honour and favour anywhere else. He gives Mordecai significant power in his life and then resents it.

• Can you think of a person in your life that can affect your mood and outlook by their actions and attitudes?
• Why is it that they hold that kind of power in your life?
• What might you be able to do to regain the power over your own mood and outlook?
• What is God’s attitude towards you, and does it change?

Pray for God’s help to order your internal world well, and well as being responsive to other people and the situation you find yourself in.

Practise choosing your attitude; and finding ways to defend the attitude you choose from your circumstances, such as building into your day reminders of the kind of attitude you want to hold.

(Mark memorised a couple of passages from 2Cor. 4, v1 and v16-18 to help him stay encouraged. Denise memorised “You are one in whom Christ delights and dwells. You live in the strong and unshakeable kingdom of God. The kingdom is not in trouble and neither are you.” ~ James Bryan Smith)