Esther 6:3

The king wanted to sleep, but sleep refused to come. What was the cause of his insomnia? Some say too much excitement and worry about his kingdom. Others say he was guessing at the request the queen would make the next day. The ancient Jewish teachers say that God took his sleep away from him. And this is the correct answer. God ordered his wakefulness. Next God puts it into his heart to call for the book of records of the chronicles and have it read to him — not to bring on sleep, but to spend the sleepless night in a useful way. The Lord's wise purpose had left Mordecai's deed unrewarded; and now the same providence brings it to light.

He had forgotten the best deed yet done for him. When two of his palace officials plotted against his life, Mordecai came to know their wickedness and saved the king. Yet, for no clear reason, the whole thing was forgotten. The king now asked what was done, and learns to his own shame that so great a debt was unpaid. That made him all the more eager to remember it now.

The king hears that no one had rewarded Mordecai. This stirred his pride and dignity at once. He felt it was not just that such a deed should go unrewarded. He must also have realised that Mordecai had never reminded him of the deed. Mordecai had sent no request for a reward and asked for no favour, though such requests were common in that part of the world. He had kept silent.

A neglected duty was now to be repaired. But far more was in the mind of Him who worked in secret, and — most surprising of all — He worked by means of the bitterest enemy. His purpose was not only to give the highest honour to the man whose ruin that enemy had come at that very moment to seek. It was to deliver a whole people, His own people, whose existence was at stake. The banquet seemed to do nothing for them, and the delay must surely have tried Mordecai. Yet it was just the occasion to prepare the way for the overthrow of the enemy, and for the honouring of the one through whom a greater rescue came.

The reader will observe that throughout this interesting section of inspiration, the name of God is never heard. Yet His finger is visibly stamped upon everything. The most trivial circumstance displays His wonderful counsel and excellent working. Natural sight cannot trace the movement of the wheels of the Lord's chariot, but faith not only traces it, it knows the direction in which it moves. The enemy plots, but God is above him. This gives the sweetest rest to the heart amid the endless tossings and changes of human affairs. The Lord is behind the scenes. Every wheel, every screw, every pivot in the vast machine of human affairs is under His control.

This is a quiet and often hidden service. By its very nature it must be so. It will win no great fame, either in the world or the church. But will God ever forget such service done for His children? Never. Heaven records such deeds. When service on earth is done, the book of records there will be opened and read. This quiet, hidden service, so little thought of here, will be praised there, and names unknown here will shine out there.