During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate,
Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became
angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But Mordecai found out about
the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving
credit to Mordecai. And when the report was investigated and found to be true,
the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of
the annals in the presence of the king. Esther 2:21-23
If
like Mordecai, you and your people were being held captive by a world power,
Xerxes’ assassination might not sound so bad. After all, if the powerful leader
was gone, then the kingdom would splinter. Territorial leaders would grapple
for power. The instability of the region might even allow for the Israelites
escape. But, what often seems right to people is counter to what God intends.
Mordecai,
being a devoted follower of the One True God, was not looking for the shrewd
thing to do. He wasn’t carefully calculating how to manipulate the situation to
his advantage. Mordecai erred on the side of generosity toward Xerxes and
obeyed the commands of God. It would have been worse for Mordecai to end up
being a co-conspirator in a tyrant’s death than to honor God by his actions and
thus remain in captivity.
Mordecai
did the right thing. He reported the assassination plot. The offenders were
immediately executed, and Mordecai was immediately forgotten. There was no
reward. There were no honors. There was no celebration. It was a good thing
that Mordecai had better reasons for his actions. If he was looking for
recognition, he would have been greatly disappointed.
Most
of us are not going to ever overhear an assassination attempt. That’s just not
very likely. But, what things do we hear, but choose to ignore? Is there a
fellow believer who is headed for a train wreck? He’s started another bad
relationship. She’s made bad choices at her job. Without becoming a busy body,
how does God want to use you to help that person?
What
things seem easy for you to get away with these days? What are you tempted to
fudge on in your life? What is the right thing to do, whether anyone else knows
or not?
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