Preaching: The story of Esther

I will not spend as much time talking about the story of Esther as I did with Achan. Esther is much too long. For my second shot at storytelling God's word to Surin Baptist, I focused in on the story of Esther. Here's an interesting one though. You could tell the story and use the phrases "by chance" or "it just so happened that..." numerous times throughout the story. Of course, the point is that nothing happened by chance, but rather by an all-powerful God who was working throughout the story. I zeroed in on the idea that God is working even when we do not see it or understand it. The story of Esther is that way. You will not find God's name mentioned once. That causes some consternation to some, but to any believer in Jesus Christ, the presence of God will be all to obvious in the events. And you cannot just say it is the cleverness of the people in the story. If it were all credited to them, the Jews in Shushan would have been wiped out. Think about some of the elements of the story...

• Is it coincidence that Mordecai is related to King Saul (Kish) while Haman is an Agagite (Agag, the king that Saul spared)?
• It is just by chance that Esther is picked out of all the women in the kingdom to be the next queen?
• Mordecai refused to bow to Haman, not necessarily for religious reasons. Bowing to an official was (and is in places like Thailand) a question of honoring the office. So was Mordecai being holy or disrespectful?
• Was it coincidence that the king removed his queen in a drunken fit of rage, a moment? What king does that?
• How did Mordecai happen to overhear the plot against the king? And how was something like that just "forgotten"?
• Why did the king accept Esther twice after not speaking to her for over a month?
• Was it coincidence that the king couldn't sleep the same night Haman wanted to ask about his gallows idea?
• Was it coincidence that the king wanted to exalt Mordecai when Haman wanted to execute him?
• Was it chance that Haman was the one commanded to exalt Mordecai?
• Was it just coincidence that Haman was hung on his own gallows?

All of these things should make anybody stop and wonder, "what's going on"? The answer is clear: God is working. And how many times do we wonder in our own lives, "Where is God right now?" God is always working, He never rests or sleeps, He is constantly caring and watching over our lives.