Detecting the God We Can't See

Esther 4-7; Psalm 36; Proverbs 21:21-22

 

What if we didn’t have to have faith? What if we could simply see God and walk right up to Him to ask for help? What if we could always hear an audible response?

 

One day we will see God.

 

But not yet. Not now. For now, we wander through our lives seeing all the various events and patterns of our lives unfolding in pretty ordinary looking ways. When we have problems and they’re resolved, we’re often tempted to think we fixed things for ourselves, or perhaps that everything would have turned out all right on its own.

 

The book of Esther is like that in some ways. It never mentions God, either by name or by title. It doesn’t even mention any times when the main characters heard from God, whether through the Scriptures or a direct encounter or angelic message. Nothing like that. The main characters have to make some tough choices and step out in faith. It almost feels like they’re acting on their own or as though God isn’t there for them. In short, the book of Esther feels very much like our own lives.

 

And like our lives, if you look at the book of Esther with eyes of faith, you see God’s hand everywhere.

 

The first inkling in the book that we’re even dealing with people of faith (besides the fact that we know Mordecai and Esther are Jews) is in chapter 4:12-16. Mordecai and Esther know that Haman has scheduled a date on the royal calendar to kill all the Jews, and Mordecai has asked Esther to go to the king (her husband) for help. When she hesitates—for fear of approaching him at a bad time and getting herself killed, a legitimate hesitation—Mordecai says this:

 

Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? – Esther 4:13-14

 

So there’s a hint of destiny. It’s still not clear that the destiny is coming from the hand of God, though the very fact that it is the Jews who need delivered should point us toward that thought. It’s in the next two verses, though, that it finally becomes clear we’re dealing with Jews who trust in God:

 

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." – Esther 4:15-16

 

They’re fasting—not eating or drinking for three days and nights. Not just Esther and Mordecai. All the Jews in Susa. Though He’s not mentioned by name or title, they could only be fasting to one person: the LORD their God.

 

Esther, Mordecai, and all the Jews are looking to God for their deliverance. And even though He’s never mentioned by name or title, from this point on it the book, God takes over. Esther goes before the king and is allowed to live. The king and Haman attend the banquet that Esther invites them to, and agree to attend a second. On the very day that Haman hopes to kill Mordecai, the king commands him to honor Mordecai. By the end of today’s reading (Esther 4-7), Haman is dead—hanged on the very gallows he built for Mordecai.

 

There’s more to the story, but we’ll save that for tomorrow and go back to the beginning instead, because once you start to see the hand of God in this book, you realize God was working even before Mordecai, Esther and the Jews began to fast. God was at work when King Xerxes commanded his queen to appear at his party and she rebelled, when King Xerxes deposed Queen Vashti, when there was a kingdom-wide search for a replacement queen, when Esther began to receive special treatment within the king’s harem, when King Xerxes chose her to be his queen, and when Mordecai happened to discover and report an assassination plot against King Xerxes. All these things had happened already, before the Jews called out to God for help. God was already setting the stage for His response to their prayers, for His deliverance of His people.

 

Father, may we today take this story to heart. May we realize that even though You are invisible, hidden in the deepest recesses of the background of our lives at times, You are always there. You are always in control. You are always faithful to Your children, to Your people. In every circumstance of our lives, You are always setting the stage for the story of Your faithfulness to be made abundantly clear. Help us to remember that You are present, even when You seem hidden, and to trust in Your unfailing love, just like Esther and Mordecai had to do. We praise You that You leave a trace, that You are detectable even though You are not visible. May we not fall before the temptation to pass Your blessings off as coincidence or chance, but may we stand firm in pointing to You as the God in whose hands all things work for the good of those who love You. Thank You for being such a present, faithful, prepared, sovereign God!