Current historic events

Days before the war began in Israel, the book of Esther began to pull at my heart. Little did I know how modern the threat of Jewish annihilation would feel or how visual Haman’s plot would become. Immersed in Esther, it seemed to me that the appalling violence was 2500 years in the making, fulfilling a long-delayed scheme.  

Whenever current struggles or current events converge with what I’m currently studying, I embrace God’s Word as sovereignly meeting me in that moment with necessary truth and perspective.  So, through the filter of 500 B.C., I pray with hope for this tragedy in 2023:

God of Jacob, 

When rage, drunkenness, racism, and sexism, control politics, 

I trust that you’re still on your throne.  

Esther 1:10-22; 5:9-13

You change history through those who refuse to comply. 

Give courage.

Esther 1:12; 3:2; 4:16

You alter the trajectory through insignificant “coincidences”. 

Align each moment.

Esther 6 

You elevate the underdog. 

Raise leaders.

Esther 8

You turn mourning to joy when you intervene. 

Spare the suffering.

Esther 8:16-17; 9:20-28

You preserve the legacy of the ones who stand for the welfare of humanity. 

Reverse these events.

Esther 10:3

May it be so.

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Psalm 46:7