The Story – The Queen of Beauty and Courage

Chapter 20 / When Life Feels Like It’s On a Roll

Sometimes you may feel like life is a big gamble.  Like the outcome of your life is resting on how the dice roll for you.  If they roll right, you get “lucky.”  If they roll badly, your life goes down the tubes.

There are times when the stars seem to align just right and you find yourself basking in a bundle of blessings.  Then there are times when everything seems out of sync and you find yourself drudging through a junkyard of disaster.  Some would call this a coincidence.  Others would call if pure luck.  But another group would say that someone is working behind the scenes working out your destiny. And they’d be right! But it is more than just someone.

Esther would understand.  She is minding her own business as her people are captive in Persia.  Meanwhile Haman—who has been given great authority by the King of Persia—is developing a hatred for Jews.  In particular, he hates Mordecai.  It seems Mordecai will not bow down to Haman whenever he parades through the streets of Susa.

Haman decides to teach Mordecai a lesson.  He gets King Xerxes to sign a decree that on a certain day all the Jews can be killed.  And anyone killing a Hebrew would be allowed to keep the personal possessions of the deceased Hebrew.

To determine the exact day when the Hebrews will be exterminated, Haman rolls the dice.  Adar the 13^th becomes the target date.

In the meantime, the king is having some issues with the queen.  She refuses the king’s summons so she is released of her queenly duties.  Then, because he needs a new queen, he holds the first “Bachelor” contest to find a new wife.  The short story is that Esther gets the rose and becomes his queen.

Yet Xerxes did not know Esther was a Hebrew.  Nor that Esther was kin to Mordecai.  The king adds another edict that will allow the Hebrews to defend themselves, which turned out good for the Hebrews and bad for any Persian that attacked a Hebrew on Adar the 13^th.

And Haman?  Well, in a strange twist of events he wound up impaled on a pole he himself had erected for Mordecai.  Not sure he got “the point” of the story, but I hope you do.  Oddly enough throughout the book of Esther you will never find the name of God mentioned.  Not once.

There are days you may think he is not around either.  But the story of Esther reminds us that he is, sometimes behind the scenes, working things out for “good for those who love him” (Romans 8:28).  And when you don’t feel he is around, that’s more your problem than his.

He has put you right where you are, right now, so you can make a difference.  You can say the words someone needs to hear.  You can be the example someone needs to see.  You can help someone find freedom from sin.   So let others roll the dice and you let God take care of the rest.