Esther 4:14; Esther 9:20-22; Romans 8:28
"And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"
"Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration."
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
The book of Esther is the only book in the Bible where God's name does not appear. Not once. No prayers. No prophecies. No miracles. No burning bushes. No parted seas. Just a beautiful Jewish girl who becomes queen of Persia, a villain who wants to annihilate her people, and a series of coincidences so perfectly timed that you would have to be blind not to see the hand of God moving behind every single one.
That is the point. God is hidden in this story. But He is not absent. He is working in the background, orchestrating events, moving hearts, arranging circumstances, all without anyone noticing. The king cannot sleep one night and decides to read the chronicles. He discovers that Mordecai saved his life and was never rewarded. He calls for Mordecai to be honoured at the exact moment Haman arrives to request his execution. Esther happens to be queen. Mordecai happens to be at the gate. Haman happens to build a gallows for Mordecai and ends up hanging on it himself. Coincidence after coincidence after coincidence until the word loses all meaning.
Purim comes from the word "pur," which means "lot." Haman cast lots to determine the day on which he would destroy the Jewish people. He rolled the dice. He gambled on genocide. And God turned the lot against him. The day intended for destruction became a day of deliverance. The feast of Purim was established to commemorate this. A celebration. A party. A day of feasting, gift-giving, and joy. The sorrow was turned into gladness. The mourning became a festival.
But there is something deeper here. The story of Esther is a picture of the hidden Messiah. Just as God's name is hidden in the book, Jesus' role in salvation was hidden from most of the people in His day. He came quietly. Humble. Unrecognised. The King of the universe, born in a feeding trough, raised in a backwater town, crucified between two criminals. If you were looking for a visible, obvious, undeniable Messiah, you would have missed Him. Just like the characters in Esther missed the hand of God until the story was already unfolding.
Esther herself is a picture of intercession. She was in a position of privilege and comfort in the palace. She could have stayed silent. She could have protected herself. But Mordecai's words cut through her hesitation: "Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" And she responded with the most courageous sentence in the book: "If I perish, I perish." She risked her life to save her people. She entered the king's presence uninvited, knowing the penalty was death, and she won. Her people were saved.
Jesus entered the Father's presence on our behalf. Not uninvited. Sent. But at the cost of His own life. He did not say "If I perish, I perish." He said "Not my will, but yours be done." And through His intercession, we were saved.
"Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"
Here is what Purim teaches me about God. He does not always work in the obvious. He does not always announce His presence with fire and thunder. Sometimes He works in the silence. In the coincidences. In the sleepless nights. In the ordinary decisions of ordinary people who do not even know they are part of His plan. If you are in a season where God feels absent, where nothing seems to be happening, where you cannot hear His voice, remember Esther. God's name was not in the book. But His hand was on every page. And He is writing your story the same way.
With the hidden hand of God still moving in my story, and yours, Claire