Our Place in God's Plan (Esther 4:1-17)
Mordecai and the Jews across the whole land learn of Haman’s plan and go into mourning. Esther, in the palace and somehow uninformed about what has been happening, hears about Mordecai and tries to stop his mourning. In an apparently complicated back and forth conversation through intermediaries, Esther learns of the plan, and Mordecai tells her she must intervene. Problematically, however, Esther can’t just pop in on the King and he hasn’t summoned her in some time. (In a nice literary twist, we go from a queen endangered for not coming when summoned, to a queen who will be endangered for showing up unsummoned.)
Mordecai responds to Esther with the most important words of the book:
“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (ESV)
I’m not sure if many people, when reading Esther, catch the subtle point here. The danger is not that God’s people will perish and His plans will fail if Esther does not act. God will prevail. The danger for Esther is that, if she fails to fill her role in God’s plan, she will suffer. She might suffer the very fate she is avoiding in fear, but she will at the very least suffer by missing out on God’s plan for her life!
Recently some researchers at the University of Queensland have published a paper entitled: “Reversible dynamics with closed time-like curves and freedom of choice.” The gist of the paper is that they have determined—were time travel to be possible—the course of history would not be changed by the actions of the time travelers. This goes against a classic paradox of time travel speculation known as the grandfather paradox. If you were to travel back in time and kill your own grandfather, it would be impossible for you to have existed to travel back in time in the first place.
In their own explanation, the researchers present an interesting example. If you were to travel back in time a few months to stop the covid pandemic by stopping patient zero, the pandemic would still occur. Either you would become a new patient zero, or someone else would. Time has a way of correcting itself so that, in theory, travelers from the future could interact with their own past without changing it.
All of that does not relate directly to the story of Esther, but it does show how reality does embrace the idea of God’s sovereignty alongside the free will of people. In Esther’s case, God’s plan and will are going to happen no matter what Esther does. But she has been put in the place God has her to accomplish His plan. She is a tool God wants to use. Esther refusing to obey will not stop God’s plan, but she will play a different part; one that would not be the best for her. She will miss out on the blessing of fulfilling her purpose and might even suffer a bad outcome.
In our own lives, we need to adopt this healthy perspective. God’s will is not going to fall apart if we fail to obey or do something less than perfectly. However, it is a tremendous blessing and fulfillment in life to live out or purpose in God’s plans. This makes our decisions and obedience towards God not about pressure or fear, but a pleasure and exciting adventure!
Mordecai responds to Esther with the most important words of the book:
“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (ESV)
I’m not sure if many people, when reading Esther, catch the subtle point here. The danger is not that God’s people will perish and His plans will fail if Esther does not act. God will prevail. The danger for Esther is that, if she fails to fill her role in God’s plan, she will suffer. She might suffer the very fate she is avoiding in fear, but she will at the very least suffer by missing out on God’s plan for her life!
Recently some researchers at the University of Queensland have published a paper entitled: “Reversible dynamics with closed time-like curves and freedom of choice.” The gist of the paper is that they have determined—were time travel to be possible—the course of history would not be changed by the actions of the time travelers. This goes against a classic paradox of time travel speculation known as the grandfather paradox. If you were to travel back in time and kill your own grandfather, it would be impossible for you to have existed to travel back in time in the first place.
In their own explanation, the researchers present an interesting example. If you were to travel back in time a few months to stop the covid pandemic by stopping patient zero, the pandemic would still occur. Either you would become a new patient zero, or someone else would. Time has a way of correcting itself so that, in theory, travelers from the future could interact with their own past without changing it.
All of that does not relate directly to the story of Esther, but it does show how reality does embrace the idea of God’s sovereignty alongside the free will of people. In Esther’s case, God’s plan and will are going to happen no matter what Esther does. But she has been put in the place God has her to accomplish His plan. She is a tool God wants to use. Esther refusing to obey will not stop God’s plan, but she will play a different part; one that would not be the best for her. She will miss out on the blessing of fulfilling her purpose and might even suffer a bad outcome.
In our own lives, we need to adopt this healthy perspective. God’s will is not going to fall apart if we fail to obey or do something less than perfectly. However, it is a tremendous blessing and fulfillment in life to live out or purpose in God’s plans. This makes our decisions and obedience towards God not about pressure or fear, but a pleasure and exciting adventure!
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