NCSC - Day 30 Morning Devotions Part II

This morning, I gave the morning devotions in the Protestant prayer lab. This is the gist of what I shared.

This mornings devotions come from the book of Esther, chapter 4 verse 14b.

It is appropriate as Purim is tonight.

The book of Esther tells of a silly king, a slick vizier, a hesitant queen and a wise uncle and the salvation of the Jews from potential annihilation. There seems to be someone missing from the story. Where is God?

On Passover, during the Seder, we retell the story using the verses from Deuteronomy and not from Exodus so that God is the key player, not Moses as compared to the Exodus story where Moses plays a significant role.

On Chanukkah, God has a hand in both the military victory of so few versus so many and the miracle that the oil lasted eight days.

So why isn't God a more obvious presence in the book of Esther?

My answer is this.

God is in between.

God is in between Mordechai and Esther, Esther and the King and every "coincidence" in the story. But there are so many coincidences that one could say that it was in the inconspicuous or conspicuous places.

Consider these examples.

God had the foresight to put Esther into a position of influence with the King to save the Jews.

God put Mordechai in the right place and at the right time to save the king.

The first time the king had a party, the result was him kicking out his wife. But at the celebration for his new wife, he did not.

We see God in between.

We acknowledge the hand of God in the story and as outsiders looking in, it's easy.

We also acknowledge the hand of God in our own lives.

Through that recognition, we appreciate the gifts we have and we can share that faith and understanding with others.

We need to remember that unlike our ability to look in on the story and see God's involvement, not everyone can do so in their own lives.

Our job, is to illuminate God's presence in their lives.

Like a lighthouse for ships, lighting their way home, so too are we for those who wish to find God.

May we never forget the power of that responsibility and may we have enough light for ourselves and others.