Do a word-search for ‘God’ in the book of Esther. Try searching for the word ‘Jehovah’ or ‘Lord’ in the little book. Your results will be zero. The word ‘God’ is nowhere to be found, yet God is everywhere in the book.
There are events and circumstances recorded in the Bible where God is unmistakably present. You can’t miss Him in the story. He speaks with a thundering voice or out of a burning bush. He sends an angel to speak on His behalf and the drama of such an event is breath-taking. But then, there are times when He is the behind-the-scenes-God. That’s how He reveals Himself in the Book of Esther.
Assuming you know the great story of Esther, the background details will be omitted. If Jewish Esther is the heroine, her Uncle Mordecai is the hero. The villain is proud Haman – anti-Semitic to the core. Had he had his way, the Holocaust would have happened millennia earlier. To his way of thinking, erasing Jews from the tablet of humanity couldn’t happen soon enough.
To the reader’s dismay, evil Haman gets a huge promotion in the pagan government – next to the King himself. A royal edict was passed, ordering everyone to bow down before Haman. There was no stopping Haman. His influence was snowballing – gaining speed fast. He conned the King into ordering the execution of every Jew in the country. Their annihilation was inevitable. They were defenseless. They could never withstand the momentum against them. Haman was on a roll. Or was he?
Despite the rapid advancement of his evil agenda against the Jews, Haman was still consumed by one thing: his personal hatred of Jewish Mordecai – the face of the Jewish race. He could not wait for the 13th day of the 12th month for the planned ethnic-cleansing to take place. Mordecai had to go ‘now’, and it wouldn’t be a quiet execution either. An enormous gallows, 23 metres high (75ft), was constructed in Haman’s backyard. Soon Haman would be on his way to the palace to secure the King’s endorsement of Mordecai’s swift and immediate execution.
Was it too late for good to come? Could the situation be reversed at this late date? Where was God now? Could anything stop the momentum of the bulldozer?
Have you ever felt like that? Maybe you are feeling that way today: things have passed the point-of-no-return. What you see as the point-of-no-return may be a passage in life that will bring the reality of God closer to your soul, leaving you with a deeper appreciation of the character of God – His power, His compassion, His Sovereignty, His patience, His holiness, etc.
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see… Psalm 11:4
Haman thought he was on a roll, but the behind-the-scenes God was still sitting on a throne – much, much higher than the one in the King’s palace. Haman ended up dying on the very gallows he built. The King reversed the ethnic-cleansing edict against the Jews and Mordecai was promoted to Haman’s old position. So how do you like that??!!
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16
God is still on the throne! (If you want to learn an old hymn about God still being on the throne you can click here and you will hear the basic tune played and see the lyrics displayed.)
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ
Peter Ramsay
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