My family and I are working through a Bible reading plan. If you have never attempted to work through a Bible reading plan, I can tell you that it can be both rewarding and challenging. The rewarding part, of course, comes at the end. If that is the case, I imagine you can guess where the challenge bit lies. I always find finishing the plan the toughest part.
In our plan, I am presently working through the book of Esther. This book does not get enough credit. It is a fascinating work, especially because it seems most out of place in our Bibles. What do I mean by that? If you were to read through all ten chapters of this Old Testament book, you’ll never come across the word “God”. If you carefully look for the alternate name “Lord” or “LORD” – well, you won’t find that either. The word “salvation” does not appear in the book. Likewise, you won’t find the words “sin” or “repent”. So, if this is the case, why do we have this book in our Bibles?
Here I find the genius of God at work as He most often is in our lives. Esther is not about marveling at God’s works in the foreground of our lives as we see in books like Genesis, Judges, or even the Gospels. The genius of God in Esther is in reminding us of how God is always at work in the background of our lives, even when we’ve forgotten that He is “standing behind the curtain”.
That is really good news for us today because, for many of us, God does not always seem to be present in the foreground of our lives. Hardships emerge, our difficulties increase, our fear about the future rises, and the question emerges, “God, where are you in this?” Sometimes it’s as if we’ve shown up to His office, but there is an “Out to Lunch” sign. Have you ever felt like that?
One of the most amazing things about the book of Esther is that, although God never appears in the foreground of the story, His fingerprints are found everywhere. We have to remember that the book of Esther is occurring around the fourth or fifth century BC and during the Persian Empire. The northern and southern kingdom of Israel and Judah were destroyed. It would not be too much to say that things were going very badly for the Jews at that time and were about to be made worse because of the flippancy of the king and the insatiable and petty rage of the government official Haman. Just when it seemed likely that the Jews were going to be systematically annihilated throughout the whole of the empire, God used both Esther and her older cousin, Mordecai, for His own glory.
Mordecai learned about Haman’s plot and came to Esther, who had become queen, with his counsel and a warning. He said, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14) Again we do not find the explicit mention of God in any of this. However, Mordecai’s faith in God was clear as his hope for deliverance was unshakable. He knew “relief and deliverance” would come for the people of God. The only question he raised was: would such redemption come through Esther or through another? Here we are reminded of the words of Psalm 124:8, “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
Mordecai’s counsel led to one other important point. He challenged Esther with this question, “who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14) This verse is one of the most famous from the book of Esther. It highlights for Esther and the reader a question that has the power to breed courage and hope in difficult circumstances. None of us really ever know why we are placed exactly where we are found. Many of us often wonder, “God, why do you have me here?” or “Why do you still have me here? What am I supposed to do?” Think with me: God in His wisdom could have sent us to a different century, or a different culture, or even here and now in another family. But we are precisely where we are, and it is not accidental. When we find ourselves in such circumstances where we would rather not be perhaps the better question to ask is not “God, why am I here?” but instead “God, what can I do here to best serve you?”
Mordecai’s question to Esther bred one thing in the young Esther: courage. Courage is not like a birth mark that you either have or you don’t. Courage is bred from character and will, and is even gifted by God to those who ask. It can be such a disposition and action draped in the sweat of fear, it can even come with shaking hands, and quaking knees as we think of the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
We do not find Esther’s prayers in the text, but we do read about her choice to fast in Esther 4:16. Why would she do this? Again, we find God working in the background. Old Testament scholar, Iain M. Duguid comments, “In biblical times, fasting was a normal means of expressing contrition for sin and dependence upon God in the face of difficulty, whether personal or national. It was also a statement that there is more to this life than mere physical existence.” Her fasting was a declaration of dependence on God as her deliverer and the true sovereign over all nations.
When Esther heard the counsel of Mordecai and stepped towards God in faith by her actions, we find the character that God alone produces even when He is seemingly silent. We are also reminded by her courage that even in our dark moments, God is still at work. When we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death, much to our amazement, we find that God is with us there still (Psalm 23:4). Esther did not fast to God alone. She called for her people to fast as she determined to stand in the gap for her people foreshadowing Christ who stands in the gap for us. She said, “if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16; cf. Heb. 7:25)
She went into the king’s royal throne with the real possibility of death for nothing less was promised to those who entered the king’s throne uninvited. She entered his presence with no dagger or fear, but trusted in the hand of her God. Perhaps she was reminded of the proverbs of Solomon which remind us, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” (Prov. 21:1) Esther trusted in God even when, throughout her life, she lived in the real fallout of God’s judgment over His people and seeming silence. And the king extended his golden scepter to her signaling peace and acceptance; death would not feast on her that day.
But the story goes forward; the Lord was behind king Ahasuerus’s gracious response to Esther. She was spared in that throne room, and her people would later be given a fighting chance. Haman would also be the recipient of one of literature’s most ironic ends. But don’t let me ruin the story for you – go read it for yourself that you might be reminded and encouraged today that just because God seems far or silent does not mean He is absent. His perceived absence is often a means by which He draws us closer to Him. It is only as we shiver in the cold that we long for the warmth of a fire. My prayer is that today you might know this God as well and experience the joy or peace that He alone gives even in the most uncertain moments of our lives.
I invite you to see this promise fulfilled in your own life, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8) May the Lord of all the earth extend His golden scepter towards you in Christ.