Today, praise the Lord for the small things he arranges in your life and praise him for his marvelous plan for your good; the good of those around you, and glory for God.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a lesson from the book of Esther.
Esther’s has got to be one of my favorite books in the Bible, even though it does not mention God's name, his sovereign hand is written on every page. Take what happened in Esther 6. We read there that, one night, King Xerxes, the emperor of Persia, he could not get to sleep – even with servants to fan away the heat, musicians to serenade him, a harem full of companions, and endless wine to drink himself into oblivion, Xerxes could not fall asleep. Now, who knows why he tossed and turned on his pillow? But instead of calling for the fanners, musicians, wine stewards, and concubines, listen to what he does in Esther 6:1, “That night the king could not sleep; so, he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.” The king decides to have someone read to him the annals of his reign [oh, my goodness, that’s guaranteed to make anyone nod off, right?].
Now you have to picture this. Just imagine the reader droning on and on about government decisions, tax hikes, foreign campaigns, state declarations and proclamations, and so on. And right in the middle of all of this, an obscure passage perks the interest of King Xerxes. In Esther 6:2-3, Xerxes learns that a man named Mordecai had exposed two of his officers in an assassination plot to kill him. That gets him thinking, and so he asks, “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” ‘Nothing has been done for him,’ his attendants answered.”
Now that seemingly insignificant power-grab in the chronicles sets in motion an amazing series of events. Because what King Xerxes learns that night in the pages of those chronicles precisely prepares him for an empire-altering request which his wife, Queen Esther, will make of him the next day. The little known passage will have softened his heart and readied him to grant the Queen’s request, and his granting it will end up saving the entire Jewish race from annihilation. A great people will be spared. And centuries later, this people will produce a young boy who will grow up to die for the sins of the world – all because one night a Persian emperor could not sleep.
What I love about this story is that it speaks so powerfully to you and me. Because it’s a lesson on how God delights in arranging the tiny coincidences which happen to us to advance his purposes. God uses the most innocuous, everyday bland circumstances in order to engineer the most earth-shattering and significant moments in your life. How he does it is one of the great mysteries behind the way God works. But he does it. It’s all mind-bogglingly complicated, but totally natural. And the same is true for you. It was John Piper who once said that “Every day, in every life circumstance, God is always doing a thousand more things than you could possibly see or imagine.”
So today, look for the hand of God at work in the seemingly small, innocuous and ordinary circumstances of your day. Remember the story of Queen Esther and how God used a minor remedy for sleep to circumvent a major holocaust against his people. Today, praise the Lord for the small things he arranges in your life; and praise him for how each incident is a part of his marvelous plan for your good, the good of those around you and glory for your great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
© Joni and Friends