Silent Partner

Esther 6

If you have ever had anything to do with a play you know they require a lot of work. Long before the night when you sat in the dark and were entertained by the actors, someone had begun the process of bringing that play to the stage. In a small production, say at a high school or community theatre, that person is the director. The director oversees all aspects of the production, but, except for a bio in the program, their presence is all behind the scenes. This parallels in some ways the book of Esther. God is not mentioned (not even a bio), but we see his work all throughout the book. This is never more apparent than in chapter six.

In reading this chapter you probably noticed the chain of events that occurred here:

1. The king can't sleep so he had the chronicles read to him.
   
2. His attendants read how Mordecai exposed the assassination attempt.
   
3. The king wants to honor Mordecai and Haman is in the court waiting for permission to execute Mordecai.
   
4. The king asks Haman what should be done for someone the king wants to honor. Haman answers, thinking the honor is for himself.
   
5. The king commands Haman to honor Mordecai.
   
6. Haman honors Mordecai.
   
7. Haman arrives at home just before the king's eunuchs arrive to take him to Esther's banquet (where she plans to expose his plot to kill all the Jews.)
   

We can look at the juxtaposition of these events in one of two ways: they were either fantastic or ordained. By fantastic I mean coincidental. Coincidences happen all the time in daily life. They are interesting and fun to read about. (Here is an article you can download that I got from Reader's Digest.) By ordained I mean the hand of God. Certainly coincidence and the hand of God are two different things that ultimately reflect two very different worldviews. For a moment let's think of Esther 6, in a general sense, as a picture of life. Just as we can look at this chapter in two different ways, so we can look at life in two different ways. We can't see God, but we can see the effects of God. Two people can read Esther 6. One sees nothing but coincidence and another sees the hand of God. Two people can look at life. One sees nothing more than a constellation of events and another sees the ordaining hand of God as he oversees his Grand Design for everything.

Just so you know, I hold to the second view. I think God lovingly and wisely oversees my life and yours. David said "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:16, but read the whole psalm.) Also, read Psalm 31:14, 15 where he says: "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands…" I mean, doesn't that make sense? If there is a God, he wouldn't put us on this planet just to fend for ourselves. What value would there be in that? Just because we can't always see his hand doesn't mean he's not working. Think of Esther and Mordecai. At the time they couldn't see how everything was going to play out. God is no different today than in their time. He doesn't love us any less that he did them. The point here is that we need to trust him. Do you remember what Jesus said on the cross? "Into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46. Note: Jesus is quoting from Psalm 31) Jesus is saying more than just "I am about to die, so take me home." In the presence of hostility, he is entrusting his life to the only One qualified to care for it.

That is, it seems to me, the only viable option in an uncertain world: trust God. Anything else leads to despair.