God is at work even when it feels like he isn't. In the heart of the Judean exile, the ruthless king Xerxes ruled from India to Ethiopia. God brought Esther, a young virgin, into his life as his Jewish wife. Even this was the result of Xerxes' anger at his own wife Vashti. Esther's prominence depended on seemingly random details; her relationship with Mordecai, her beautiful figure, Mordecai's overhearing a plot to kill the king, Haman's irritation at Mordecai and his irrational desire for genocide. Moreover, this was not just any genocide, it was the genocide of the Jews, the progenitors the promised Messiah. Vulnerable Esther faces the world's most tyrannical ruler to rescue the Jews, whom he has already condemned. She is prepared to die. Haman's interpretation of the sequence of events that led to his downfall was gravely flawed. At the bleakest moment, the king could not sleep. His insomnia led to Haman's execution, Mordecai's exaltation and the liberation of the Jews. A huge national reversal demonstrated that God is at work in every detail of events that appear to be beyond recovery. God is on the move in your life too. Do you see him? |
