Have you ever watched a relationship slowly close off? Maybe an adult son or daughter who's drifted behind a wall that you can't seem to reach through. You've prayed, you've waited, and that wall just won't move.
Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl recounts a true story in Esther chapter 8. This remarkable passage will breathe fresh hope into every impossible situation you're facing. Because the God who softened the heart of a Persian king can certainly handle whatever wall stands before you. Chuck titled his message, and the walls came tumbling down. Yeah.
Esther, verse 3, fell at his feet, wept, implored him. to do something. What's wrong?
Well Haman may be gone, but the edict has still been written. And you know how it is with those edicts from Medo, Persia. It has been written, it will be done. The Jews will die in December.
So Esther weeps. It is a document that looks absolutely permanent. It is irrevocable. He extends the golden scepter, which is his way of saying, Speak, I'm listening. Verse 5.
She said, if it pleases the king, And if I have found favor before him, And the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight. What a wonderful way for a wife to speak to a husband. No extra charge for that? Let it be written. Let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman.
Let it be written. It's already written. But I'm pleading for revoking what has been written. Let it be revoked is what she's saying. Unheard of.
in the land of the Persians. She says in verse 6, How can I endure to see the calamity which shall befall my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? Look. You wonder if there is a wall so thick that God cannot penetrate.
You wonder if documents written in that day. Just as documents written in our day or permanent ink.
So the king said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given the house of Haman to Esther. And him they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews.
Now, Here. Here's the pen. Here's the stylus. You write to the Jews as you see fit. What?
Is that incredible? You write another law.
Furthermore, he says, Seal it with the king's signet ring, for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring may not be revoked. This one is going to stand. This is it. Count on it. They get together the machinery, they put it together.
I love the way this reads. Verse 10, he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus. Sealed it with the king's signet ring. Sent letters by couriers on horses riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. Isn't that good?
That's great writing. These are the best horses with the finest couriers, the most responsible record. Let them take the message to 127 provinces and spread the word. The Jews will live. Yeah.
I love it. Absolutely amazing. Look. 13. A copy of the edict to be issued as law in each and every province was published to all the peoples so that the Jews should be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
The Jews are now protected. They now have their own defense provided by the Persian law. No one can touch him. The couriers hastened and, impelled by the king's command, went out riding on the royal steeds, and the decree was given out in Susa, the capital. You may not have some person after you.
You may have some document.
Okay.
Something that's been written.
Some magazine article.
Some newspaper. article.
some transcript.
Some occupational report.
Some lawsuit.
Something written that looks So intimidating.
So unerasable. And you're sitting here listening to these words thinking. Yeah, but if you only If you only knew who's behind that. I don't care who's behind that. I happen to serve A sovereign God, Who has yet to go?
When he finds anything on this earth. Nothing we read. frightens him. We live under the hand of the Almighty. All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing, Daniel 4:35.
He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? None. What's the God you serve? Child of God, that's the Lord you worship. My friend.
We live in a day when documents intimidate. I know. But I'll tell you it has an amazing Result when God steps in. who will rewrite all records. Not only will every knee bow before him ultimately, But every lie will be exposed, every falsehood.
Forever forgotten. Be encouraged if you happen to be living under the dread of what has been written. It is not permanent. I love the way the chapter ends. I like stories that.
You know, where everybody lives happily ever after. I even like some fairy tales for that reason. Isn't that romantic or what? I heard of a child whose mother was telling her of Snow White and the seven dwarfs. Finally, the The story ends where Prince comes and he finds her and kisses her back to life.
The little girl's telling her mother about this story. She's heard it at school. And the mother's listening to her, and she doesn't finish. The mother says, and let me guess. They live happily ever after.
Little girl said, No, mother, they got married. Ah, that's reality. But here There is a gloom that has set on the city of Susa. and 126 of the other provinces And it cannot be penetrated. It would be like a scene at Auschwitz or Dachau or Birkenmau.
No one laughs there. I mean, every day is another movement of the clock. Toward doom. But look. Luck.
Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white. With a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa. Shouted is the great, and rejoiced. And the Jews, for the Jews, there was light and gladness and joy and honor in each and every province, in each and every city. Wherever the king's commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews.
A feast and a holiday. It was like Christmas and New Year's and Easter all rolled into one. It was like Berlin. On the 9th of November. was like nothing they'd ever seen before.
They would sing all night. Because the gloom was lifted. Look at the last line. I love it. Many of the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.
Isn't that great? Oh, it goes around. comes around. Do I speak to you who live in places of gloom and darkness? Her laughter is not in the walls.
Where your life has become grim. Borderline tragic. It will not be that way forever. While others go home from church on a Sunday, and enter into the love and warmth of a family. You go home alone.
And you don't find warmth. You find the awful memory. of broken relationships. Remorse. Yeah.
You look with longing at a scene like this one. You watch with tears. As the story unfolds on your television. And you think I would love to be there singing again. This is no irrelevant slice of ancient history tucked away in the folds of.
Esther's scroll. This is life. This is today. This is written to people who face intimidating, stubborn souls and maybe live with them. Maybe married to them.
May have children like that. This is written to people whose lives have been scarred by documents. And lawsuits. Bad reports. Rumors, maybe.
That seems so permanent. This is written to people whose Whose lives are lived within the thick, tall walls of depression and doom. And this chapter Says There is hope. May I go back? There are walls that fall on any day.
The good news, maybe sometime good, sometimes bad, is that we never know when they're going to. You cannot predict the falling of a wall. I'm thinking right now of a College in the Midwest, where there was once a lovely tree that was part of the landscape. It was one of the places students met and talked. I am told by those who were there on the campus on that day.
They heard a large crack that echoed Across the campus as this massive oak fell to the ground. When someone examined it, they noticed that within this massive tree There had been the growing of weakness. and even disease To the point that was all that was left was what appeared to be a strong trunk, but it was nothing more than an empty shell of a tree. And with the blowing of a harsh wind, one One day The tree fell.
So it is. in our lives. You don't know, but God is in the process of breaking a will. You know, I mentioned the man in my own life. There could have been others I could have talked about, but this one stands out.
And I want to mention first the walls of stubborn wills. And I want to tell you what seems unchangeable is not. The man had a change of heart. I don't know what brought that about. I do know that he moved.
Took up residence in another town, another city. Wanted to find a church, in fact wanted to start a church. They couldn't find someone to preach, and so decided to start with a set of tapes. Guess whose? I would have never thought that.
Had I lived a thousand years, He's changed. The stubborn will may be your own. You may be one of those individuals that has determined: this is the way I will go, and I will get there. Regardless. No one will stand in my way.
I pace my closing words more slowly because I respect. What I'm dealing with here. Stubborn people tend not to listen to this kind of talk. I want you to hear it. When I was a student at seminary, I remember hearing a speaker conclude his message with a statement that.
stayed with me all these years. That was back in the fall of 1959. He said. When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible person. and crushes him.
Tozer says much the same thing in one of his works. It's doubtful God can use anyone greatly until he has hurt him deeply. until he has hurt him deeply. I've quoted that and received mail from people who have said, You make God appear awfully cruel. It's not cruelty.
It's sovereignty. Your stubborn will does not intimidate him, he will bring you to your knees. I'll say this to people I love today.
Some of you are children of God. But the way you live your life, very few can tell it. Because you are so damnably stubborn. You will not give in. And I say to you.
You are no match. for God. He will break you. He will bend you. He may even have to crush you.
Because he wants your heart. Another wall is the wall of damaging documents. They fall every day. It's amazing how the truth emerges. That which appeared so permanent back at a given time.
With the passing of a few years, sometimes even months, the truth emerges. And you hold your head in your hands thinking, how could I have thought this? In light of the truth I have seen since, now I know the truth. The problem is in the waiting period, it is Hell on Earth. For the person hanging in the balance.
Take hope. Take heart.
Some document that looks as though it will ruin you. will pass away. The truth will become known. Third, every day Walls of depression and doom and gloom. are penetrated.
By the wonderful presence of the living God. Weeping may endure for the night. Psalm thirty, verse six. But joy comes in the morning. In a season of the year, normally given for family and happiness and laughter of children.
you may not find much laughter and you may find no happiness. and no children. Weeping. endures for the night. But joy comes in the morning.
I have discovered that hurting people get perspective that those who have not yet hurt like that. Black. Take, for example, David, who writes Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep thy word. Psalm 119, 67. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes.
Psalm 119:71. It is good for me. Psalm 119:75, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous. and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted Me. You say, How can I Put it to work.
How can I make this happen? I want this. I have counsel for all of of you to remember and that is What is needed is the presence of the Savior. And the perspective of the cross It casts its shadow across all of our lives. and it makes life bearable.
You need the Lord God living in your life. You need Him. Residing there in masterful control. You need him there to prompt perspective. or you will fade in anxiety.
And your enemy will win the day. The document will destroy you. The gloom will depress you. You'll turn to a bottle. or some drug.
You'll opt for a lifestyle that you will later regret. to fill up the loneliness. All of these things are so available. And they speak loud. strong words of appeal to us.
I invite you today. to a place of abject affliction. It has blood on it. It once had a man on it. Who knew affliction like You and I will never know it.
who died misunderstood and maligned. But it had to be That People like us. could have hope. I would like for you to bow your head and close your eyes. And for a few moments, I'd like for you to set aside the The stubborn will, whether it's yours or another's, The document that has been haunting your days.
The atmosphere that you live in. And I'd like for you to Answer. Where is Christ in all of this? Where is he? If you're a child of his, How wonderful.
All that's needed. is to call upon him this day. this very moment.
Okay.
I've noticed in my life that he gives strength in brief bursts. Over the long hall, He strengthens us, but it doesn't come. A month at a time, it comes a moment at a time. Ask for that. Yeah.
If it's a stubborn will you're living with, Pray for God. to soften it. If necessary, to crush it. Even if it's in you. If it's stubborn enough, it is ruining relationships.
Give it to him. Yeah. If your visit to the cross today is the first time ever for you, then I invite you. to give the Lord your life. He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
to pay the penalty for those sins that you and I regularly commit.
so that he might erase the sin question. and offer you an answer to your unbelief. Forgiveness. Security. And hope.
You're surrounded by people all around the community. all around the globe. who have surrendered their hearts to Jesus Christ. Given him their wills. their lives.
The right to rule. It's your turn. Our Father, find in us an openness that is rare. Give to us. A willingness.
that is not normally found in our lives. And here our prayer. as we call upon you today. Thank you for the relevant message from an ancient book. remind us Once again.
that all walls ultimately fall. Just as all knees. Ultimately bow. In the strong name of Jesus Christ. We pray.
Amen. Chuck Smundahl has reminded us today that no wall is too strong for God. Not the stubborn will of someone who's making your life miserable. Not a document that seems to seal your fate. not the gloom that settled over your days.
the same sovereign God who softened the heart of a Persian king and reversed an irrevocable decree is at work in your circumstances right now. This is Insight for Living. Chucksmundahl has an important closing thought in just a moment, so stay with us. Chuck titled today's message and the walls came tumbling down. It's number nine in his twelve-part study of Esther, which ends just one week from now.
And then, beginning on the 10th of June, our attention will turn to another powerful series. This time, Chuck's focus is on the amazing attributes of God. The central theme of this next study is the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. Chuck? The first Monday in July nineteen seventy nine, that's when Insight for Living aired its very first radio program.
I had no idea what was beginning that day. None. If someone had pulled back the curtain and shown me what God was about to do, I'm not sure my heart could have held a thrill. We were naïve. We were stepping out in faith with a national program, and frankly, we had no business being that bold.
But We were. And we did, and men and women responded in droves. Not because we were clever, not because we had some sophisticated strategy or a slick marketing plan. They responded because we heralded the only thing that has ever actually changed a human heart. the cross we proclaim.
Nearly five decades later, nothing has changed. Not one thing that matters. Yes, the reach has grown, the platforms have multiplied. We go places now that would have seemed like science fiction in nineteen seventy nine. into phones, into earbuds, into languages and nations, we could never have imagined on that first Monday morning.
But the message Identical. It's the cross, always the cross. Look around at the world around you, bodies failing, relationships fractured. Public discourse that sounds more like a brawl than a conversation, pain in every direction. And right in the middle of all of it, we get to be dispensers of truth.
God's truth. The kind that doesn't shift with the headlines or bend with the culture. That's an extraordinary privilege. As we approach june thirtieth, nearly forty six years after that very first broadcast, I want to invite you to join What God is already doing. Your gift to insight for living carries the light into dark corners we haven't even reached yet.
from our very first day until now. Let's keep going. together. As a tangible expression of our gratitude for your gift, we'd like to send you a brand new booklet from Chuck. It's called the Cross We Proclaim.
We published this powerful message from Chuck to coincide with his next broadcast series. When you give a gift to Insight for Living, we'd be pleased to send you a copy. You know, it's clear we live in a world that's obsessed with image, credentials, and making impressions. In his booklet, Chuck says there's a better way to live, and it begins at the foot of the cross, where all the ground is level. By reading the cross we proclaim, you'll find the freedom that comes when you stop managing your reputation and start resting in what Christ accomplished.
Once again, Chuck's brand new book is titled The Cross We Proclaim. To give a donation and request a copy, call us at 800-772-8888. Or to send a check in the mail along with your request for the booklet, just address the envelope to Insight for Living. Post Office Box 5000. Frisco, Texas, 75034.
You can also go to insight.org/slash donate. Ever feel like getting even with an enemy? I'm Bill Meyer. Don't miss Chuck Swindahl's message about the limitations of retaliation. Tuesday on Insight for Living.
The preceding message, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, was copyrighted in 1989, 1990, 1997, 2005, 2018, and 2026. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
