Esther’s story brings us a strong reminder that nothing is impossible with God … There’s no force too strong .. no position too sure … to prevent His will from prevailing. Indeed God, a miracle worker, delights in weaving His miracles into the everyday happenings of life. Esther reminds us that we can never be sure when God will move to turn a situation around through some sort of baffling and curious coincidence, or Godincidence as many call them. I wonder, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SUSPECTED GOD MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH A FORTUNATE ‘COINCIDENCE’ … GOD INCIDENCE’ IN YOUR LIFE?
God finishes Esther’s story in a royal fashion. The King grants all of her requests, taking Mordecai into the palace and sparing the Jews from destruction. To cap off the story, many Gentiles become Jews, turning to God who has awed them and evoked their respect. Not only does God save His own people … He turns other to Himself and makes a way for them to enter into relationship with Him. He cares not only about justice but about mercy towards those who need to know Him. God expresses His deep love for people who, though imperfect, show courage in carrying out His plan. In their faithfulness they find His unending forgiveness and care.
I wonder WHAT WAS IT ABOUT GOD THAT FIRST CAUGHT YOUR ATTENTION?
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME? People tell stories about getting jobs … meeting spouses … winning prizes … and finding bargains … all because they were in the right place at the right time. Often these seemingly accidental strokes of good luck are explained with the words: ‘It was meant to be’. If the job offer was given … ‘It was meant to be’ … If the relationship works out … ‘It was meant to be’ … But on the other hand … If the job falls through … or the relationship breaksdown … ‘it wasn’t meant to be’.
What lies behind these words? Are we speaking in a round about way of God’s hand on our lives? Or are we attributing our success and failures to the more general and impersonal hand of fate?
Esther had several such fortunate experiences. She was selected as a contestant to become Queen … then won the King’s favour and became royalty. ESTHER 2: 1-4 & 17&18
She was in the palace at the time a plot to kill the Jews developed …ESTHER 2: 19-23 She waited for a second banquet to present her request to the King, unknowingly giving him time to read about Mordecai’s act of saving life. ESTHER CHAPTERS 5&6
Continually Esther found herself in the right place at the right time to save her people. Her circumstances were more than ‘meant to be’. They were brought about by a Sovereign God who had a plan for Esther’s life and the life of His people.
We serve the same God as did the Jews of Esther’s day. God tells us: ‘I the Lord do not change’. (Malachi 3: 6) His ways of moving in our lives may looks somewhat different from His ways of moving in the Old Testament … but … God has not changed … nor have His purposes. Just as He had a plan for His people then … He has a plan for those who belong to Him now. We can trust that whenever we find ourselves in the right place at the right time, God’s hand is present.
‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’ (James 1: 17) We can thank God for every stroke of good fortune … every providential gift. Sometimes they are simple blessings … Other times they are his strategic ways of fulfilling the bigger purposes He has for us.
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED ABOUT THE PLACES TO WHICH GOD HAS BROUGHT YOU IN LIFE?
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT FAILURES OR MISSED OPPORTUNITIES?
Ask God to help you better see your life through His eyes … and place yourself in His care … trusting that His good purpose for you will be achieved. ‘For such a time as this.’
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