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You have to approach an evil man who can have you killed on the spot. You don't know how the story ends. So, do you go?  It is easy to quarterback from the couch. It's easy to say, "of course I would go! God would protect me!" But, tell me, would you go into that situation?  Young Esther was exactly there when the throne room door opened. I imagine that there might have been a few moments of anguish as she waited for the sceptre to rise. And then it did!  Mysterious how God works. In that act, the king was doing God's will even though he didn't know it. That sceptre had to rise. It couldn't NOT rise. Yet Xerxes was unaware of the gravity of his act. It would be recorded in Holy writ. Yet, it was stunning, and it opened the door to dialogue. Yet, the talk would have to wait for another day because the real trap wasn't yet armed.  What frightful situation are you facing? What cards have to drop? What impossible meeting awaits you? First, recognize that y...

The fascinating account that we call "Esther" has intrigue, love and mysterious purpose that highlights God's sovereign control over every aspect. In ten chapters, we meet the ruling King of Persia, his evil courtier Haman, Mordecai, a dignified and stubborn Jew and his niece Hadassa. Each player has an integral part in the tale. That story goes like this.  The King has a magnificent party that goes on for six months! Finally, in his desire to show off his lovely wife, he calls for her to come dressed in her crown. She refuses, usually a crime punishable by death, and is banished from the castle. The flustered King asks his men what he should do, and they decide he should seek a new bride. The process takes months, but finally, Ester is chosen. Her new position will be a critical part of the happy ending of this story.  Enter the villain Haman, who hates Mordecai so much that he eventually plans to kill him. Before that evil deed, however, he hatches an even more cruel ac...

Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. While we could go into a discussion on abortion with this verse as proof text that God sees the unborn as already planned, we won't. Not that it isn't a worthy topic, because it is. It is an urgent subject that needs to be screamed from the house tops.  What I want to think about this today is the ordination of our days. In his Supreme power and creative control, God knows the future. In his omnipresence, he is already in the future. You've heard the phrase, "God lives outside of time." He has no time constraints. He not only isn't under a deadline he has completed his creative work.  We see some of this thought in this verse when David says that God has ordained our days. He has them planned out. They are recorded in his book.  This does not mean that God guesses about how long that you are going to live. This means that he knows,...