I was reading in Esther the other day about King Xerxes. He was the King that Esther married. As I was reading I was really amazed at the abundant wealth of some of these Old Testament Kings.
This particular king, King Xerxes threw a banquet for a full 180 days, that’s a 6 month long party, to display his wealth to all the various military leaders, princes and nobles and then afterwards a week long party in his enclosed garden for everyone else from the least to the greatest of people and they were all allowed to drink as much wine or as little as they wished because by the king’s command the royal wine was to flow abundantly in keeping with his liberality. Read for yourself Esther 1:1-8. That’s pretty wealthy and that is pretty gracious. I can’t imagine what that would like in today’s culture. A six month party for all the national leaders to display to them how wealthy we are. Who could afford such extravagance? But it was common for these kings to throw these outrageous parties of generosity to display their wealth and splendor. And I was reminded of the fact that King Xerxes wasn’t even the wealthiest king. He wasn’t nearly as wealthy as King Solomon was. King Solomon was the wealthiest and wisest kings ever and he loved to throw these huge parties also. Just take a peak at 1 Kings 4:22-28 and read about his daily provisions, it’s insane.
My point is this, if this is a small picture of just how wealthy these earthly kings were, how much more wealthy and how much more gracious is our God & King? It’s not so hard to imagine or grasp the idea that God’s wealth abundantly outweighs these two tiny poor kings. We grasp that easily enough. But do we grasp how much more abundantly God’s graciousness towards us his children, outweighs theirs? In Esther 7:2 King Xerxes asks Queen Esther, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.” That’s insanely generous. I can’t think of a King or World Leader today who would make such an oath. King Herod in Mark 6:22-24 gave the same promise to the daughter of Herodias after she danced for him and his guests. He promised her with the same oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” She asked for the head of John the Baptist and got it. Esther had asked for the life of her people to be spared. Their requests were huge but minimal in comparison what they were prepared to off them.
God has also given us his own word which is much greater than the oaths of these kings. He continually calls us to ask Him, to come to Him with our requests and needs. Psalms 50:15 says:
call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
When we come to him to have our petitions and needs met, we bring honor to him by demonstrating to the world around us just how gracious He is to us to hear us, just how willing He is to help us, and just how able He is to deliver us completely. And every time we don’t come to Him with our prayers and petitions, when we go elsewhere we dishonor Him by portraying Him to ourselves, to our families and to the world as a God who is unable to help us when needs arise, as a God who is uncaring, unwilling to come to our aid, unable to hear and unable to help. I can only cringe at the distrust I have brought to Him by my turning to other sources to have my needs met and wish that I had come to him more often as the first person I turned to instead of my last resort.
