Esther 2-8
How badly must it have hurt?
How deeply wounded must he have felt?
To have stuck out his neck so dangerously for the king
and yet have no reward for doing so sounds so unfair.
How tasking is it to stand for the truth?
Just imagine standing for what is right in the face of danger.
What if the plotters were more than two?
What if the other enemies of the king turn against him – the witness.
What will happen to me if I take the witness stand against evil?
What lies ahead if I expose a plot against the king?
Maybe the plot was even justified.
Could we argue that this must have been a wicked King
Who seemingly only cares about himself and his endless orgies?
Mordecai stood for the truth and exposed an evil plot and nothing was done in recognition of his loyalty.
Is it true that sometimes life seems so unfair?
You work so hard at your job or duties and you do your best and go over and beyond what is expected and yet get no recognition for doing so.
Yes you have done all that is required. You have learnt the trade and discipline, gone to school and got the education, yet the reward is still far fetched and out of reach.
You have stuck out your neck for the truth one way or the other, yet it appears life is not making any commensurate return to you.
Instead of being elevated Mordecai’s fate was turning from bad to worse.
An influential enemy had spotted him for a different reason.
Someone looking for worship had been infuriated by his defiance.
Haman demanded worship but he was not going to get it from Mordecai.
He plotted to wipe out Mordecai and everything he stood for, his entire race.
Everyone connected to Mordecai was to go down with him.
How the enemy hates you and all you stand for and care about.
Instead of being rewarded for his loyalty and dedication, the same King he risked his life to save had now signed his death warrant.
How terrible would it have felt?
How far below can a man get?
Mordecai wailed and cried at the news of the King’s decree, covered in ashes and robed in sack cloth.
The enemy seems to be winning.
Wait a minute.
Where is God in all these you ask?
Could it be that Mordecai’s act of bravery is like a seed which after being sowed needed some time to germinate, bud, grow to maturity before presenting a harvest?
Nobody ever plants a seed today and reaps the harvest the same day. The passage of time is required before the harvest.
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3).
God never forgets.
God is a faithful God.
He is the righteous and just judge.
He sits in judgment over the affairs of life.
God knew the right time to introduce Mordecai’s reward,
even if He had to trouble the king and force Mordecai’s recognition.
He is the God of all the earth,
He is the King of Kings, the master of the entire universe.
The heart of every King is in His hands and He can control them how he wills when he chooses to.
God will always have the last say.
The King lost his peace and could not sleep.
More like, God withdrew his peace.
The King called for the books where every record is kept.
God drew his attention to Mordecai’s forgotten act of loyalty, the time for his harvest had come.
It had to be the right time, and God will be the judge of that.
Haman had to parade and sing before Mordecai proclaiming his honour,
What a victory for Mordecai,
What a shame for Haman.
It did not end there.
The timing was so perfect that Haman’s evil plot was exposed and eventually he hung on the same gallows he built to execute Mordecai.
What a turn of events?
Mordecai got his reward.
He was duly recognized and promoted, but not a second before the perfect time.
Galatians 6:9
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Shalom
Olaolu Oyeyemi