God Behind the Scenes: The Book of Esther

We all love a compelling story. One that is exciting, suspenseful, designed to captivate our attention. The book of Esther is a story just like that. A story of a people who face complete disaster under the hand of an evil superpower, only for a hero and heroine to rescue them from disaster. There’s plot twists, irony, humour, tension, suspense, violence and death, points where it all seems hopeless and like the villain is going to win, only for it to be turned around, for the villain to be defeated and the good guys to emerge victorious! And through it all, God appears to be completely absent. God is not named or mentioned even once. But as we allow ourselves to be caught up in the story, as we follow the remarkable twists and turns, we can’t help but see events that point to God’s invisible presence throughout. God is always at work, always present, always directing circumstances and events. He is never absent – even when his presence isn’t obvious. The book of Esther is a story of God at work behind the scenes. A story of God at work in the ordinary aspects of everyday life, in the unexpected events of daily life and life’s circumstances, even in the responses of people and their decisions, to achieve his purposes.