Follow Me: Esther

Overview of Esther

Weird book

Set in time of exile

About a woman

God never speaks

Calling and community

Mordecai and others necessary to complete Esther’s goal

Not a one man army

However, Community can be messy, not perfect

We find God’s grace in the messy, everyday lives of his people

Providence and Humility

Community helps to discern Esther’s gifts as well as ways she can contribute to Kingdom of God

Community discerns where God is. Where is God in Esther?

The New Revised Standard Version Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.

God at work behind the scenes

Miracles in Bible are extraordinary, not ordinary

Providential guidance the norm for God and us

This view requires humility

We don’t have all the things we have of our own power

We needed others to get where we are

More than that, we needed God to get where we are

God doesn’t call us because we’re “special”

We’re precious and beautiful to God, but not “special”

God doesn’t “need” us because of our gifts, etc. God could do it without us

The New Revised Standard Version Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish.

God doesn’t “need” us, but he prefers to work with and through his creatures.

No need to fear that we could derail God’s plans. We’re not that special, and God isn’t that weak.

This is also, however, a message of encouragement. God is at work for us, even when we don’t see it.

God has already been at work preparing us to follow him and pursue his call even when we don’t know it.

I need a sign

Still raises a question: How does Esther know?

It’s one thing to know that God has prepared us and gifted us with gifts, and another to know how he expects to use those things

You need a sign?

Pharisees need a sign.