“Providence”

My prayer for you and for myself is that our faith in the God of Abraham would deepen our understanding of His infinite greatness as we seek to understand the power of His divine providence. Though this is refuted by many Christians, the scriptures are very clear that God is orchestrating human history. He is orchestrating all of creation, even down to the beauty of a rose amid a wilderness that is only seen by His eyes. The Lord causes it to grow; He nourishes it with rain and the sunlight, and it flourishes in all its beauty for a time, then it withers away. Even so, Christian, the hairs upon your head are numbered, and the day of your death was decreed before the foundations of this world were laid. He also sees and knows every bird that has fallen to the ground. There is no way in our finite mind that we can begin to grasp such power, for we are limited in our capacity to even seek to try. The Lord speaking through Isaiah says Himself, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

As we take a moment to look into the life of Esther, it is very important that in our own limitations, we do not seek to limit the power of God, but to even accept that which cannot be understood by the human mind. Esther was born of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, who was awaiting the Messiah whom God had promised. She was an orphaned daughter who grew up in Persian captivity and was raised by her cousin Mordecai. Little did she know that as she grew into a beautiful young lady, she would be taken out of her home and brought into the harem of a wicked Persian King named Ahasuerus [Xerxes].

But what the king meant for evil, seeking only to satisfy his passions. God used it for good. The Lord used the evil of the wicked king to save His people through the hand of Esther and to destroy the Amalekites, a wicked race of people that hated Israel and who had determined to destroy them. Esther could not see the result, but she knew that God was in it, and now her name is pinned in the archives of His eternal word. From a human standpoint, Esther would have never chosen this for her life. Still, she trusted God in what her human intellect could not understand. Esther knew that God is holy that He is just, and that He loved her very much. She also knew that God was not the author of evil, nor could He ever do so, no matter how it may seem to her limited thinking.

Christian, you too were born into a wicked culture full of hatred, deceit and sexual deviations, just as Esther. Maybe you have even been a victim of certain circumstances you did not choose for yourself, or perhaps you have been influenced by those who are given over to wickedness. But remember, you are not alone in your suffering. Jesus, being fully God, entered this world that you live in as well. He was stripped naked, and His beard was plucked out. He was humiliated and beaten beyond human recognition. The persecutors spit in His face, and they dressed Him in a king’s robe as they beat Him with a royal scepter. Then they took Him and nailed Him to a tree for all to see. But drenched in His own blood, with His eyes swollen shut gasping for air, He cried, “Father forgive them.” Jesus, enduring the suffering, He knew that God was purposing His will, and many would be saved through His death.

DEVOTIONAL

“So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.”

Esther 2:16 NASBS