Why

4 When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

9 Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
Esther 4:4-11

There is man in the city square wearing sackcloth. He is Mordechai, the Jew. Why is he there? Why is he wearing sackcloth? Why does he refuse to wear the clothes sent to him?

“Why” is an important question to ask but often a difficult question to answer, because the answer could lie in many places. It could be in the events. Maybe the answer is in Haman the Agagite’s plotting to kill the Jews. Or it could be before that in Mordechai’s refusal to bow to Haman? Or it could start with Queen Esther’s replacing Queen Vashti? Or even before that? The Book of Esther starts in the third year of King Xerxes’ reign in the 5th century BC. Perhaps the answer lies earlier in 539 BC when the Persians conquered the Babylonians and released the Jews from captivity, or in 589 BC, when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem.
Perhaps the answer is not even in the events, but in the personalities. Why did Haman hate Mordechai so much that he wanted to kill all the Jews? Was it just because Mordechai refused to bow to him? Maybe that hatred started long before – in the days of King Saul when the prophet Samuel killed King Agag, the ancestor of Haman.

“Why” is a difficult question, but the passage of Esther tells us where to start looking for the answer. First we must see the man. Then we must be willing to go to him; willing to listen; and finally willing tell what we know.

The same is true today, particularly when we share the gospel. Through prayer, our eyes must be open to see people in need; our feet willing to go to them; our ears willing to listen; and finally, our voices willing to tell.

Esther could tell of her situation as queen and her relationship with the king. But we can tell of much more. We can tell of our situation as sons and daughters of the living God and our relationship with Him. It may not give us the answer to “why”, but it might change that person’s life.

Prayer:
• Do you pray that God will open your eyes so that you will see what He wants to show you? Do you pray to be willing to go, willing to listen, and willing to tell?
Are you willing to ask God for these things?
If you do, your life will never be the same again.