When the Jewish people living in all of the provinces of the Persian Empire read the decree which had been sealed by the King, there was much sorrow in the land. Weeping, mourning and fear plagued every Jew as they knew that on a certain day, all of them, men and women, young and old, would be killed due to the diabolical plot of Haman. But then God used Esther and Mordecai in amazing ways and soon a second decree went out that would give the Jewish people the right to defend themselves and to take for themselves the possessions of anyone they killed who was trying to harm them on that impending day. Esther 8 tells us that when the second decree was read, there was shouting and rejoicing in the streets of Susa. The Jewish people were now filled with joy and gladness because the insurmountable wall that they were facing had come down.
Today, there are many believers who are facing one of those walls that seem insurmountable. It may be a financial wall as our economy swoons. It may be a marital wall as relationships that once were characterized by love and acceptance began to crumble. It may be a wall dealing with a rebellious child. It may be a wall of pain and disease or a wall that recently had you standing next to a freshly dug grave. All too often I watch believers come up against these walls and ultimately become angry at God and walk away from trusting Him. They forget four principles we learn from Esther:
No wall is too insurmountable for God!
Even when you are facing your wall, God is at work behind the scenes!
God’s timing in bringing down your wall may not be your timing, but it will be perfect timing!
One day you will once again be dancing in the streets!
That was sure true of the Jewish people back in Esther’s Day. It is also true of us today. Even the greatest wall we have ever faced, the wall of sin, falls into these truths. That wall was insurmountable to us. We were sinners, and as a result, had been condemned to an eternity without God in hell and there was nothing we could do about it. But God was working behind the scenes. And when the fullness of time came, God sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, into this world, born of a virgin. He died in our place on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and that sacrifice satisfied the wrath of God toward our sin. He rose again from the dead to prove that He was exactly who he claimed to be, the only way to the Father. And when we put our faith in Him and trust His death and His resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin, we are forgiven. We are given eternal life. We become children of God and one day we will dance with joy on golden streets.
So, if you are facing a wall today as a follower of Jesus, don’t give up. Keep trusting the God who is bigger than your wall, who right now is at work behind the scenes and whose timing is perfect. And one day you will once again find yourself dancing in the streets.
Today, there are many believers who are facing one of those walls that seem insurmountable. It may be a financial wall as our economy swoons. It may be a marital wall as relationships that once were characterized by love and acceptance began to crumble. It may be a wall dealing with a rebellious child. It may be a wall of pain and disease or a wall that recently had you standing next to a freshly dug grave. All too often I watch believers come up against these walls and ultimately become angry at God and walk away from trusting Him. They forget four principles we learn from Esther:
No wall is too insurmountable for God!
Even when you are facing your wall, God is at work behind the scenes!
God’s timing in bringing down your wall may not be your timing, but it will be perfect timing!
One day you will once again be dancing in the streets!
That was sure true of the Jewish people back in Esther’s Day. It is also true of us today. Even the greatest wall we have ever faced, the wall of sin, falls into these truths. That wall was insurmountable to us. We were sinners, and as a result, had been condemned to an eternity without God in hell and there was nothing we could do about it. But God was working behind the scenes. And when the fullness of time came, God sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, into this world, born of a virgin. He died in our place on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and that sacrifice satisfied the wrath of God toward our sin. He rose again from the dead to prove that He was exactly who he claimed to be, the only way to the Father. And when we put our faith in Him and trust His death and His resurrection for the forgiveness of our sin, we are forgiven. We are given eternal life. We become children of God and one day we will dance with joy on golden streets.
So, if you are facing a wall today as a follower of Jesus, don’t give up. Keep trusting the God who is bigger than your wall, who right now is at work behind the scenes and whose timing is perfect. And one day you will once again find yourself dancing in the streets.
2 comments:
Thank you for posting these principles again. I needed that encouragement today! God continues to work, and He's faithful even when nothing makes sense.
That's right, Amy! God may be invisible, but He is never absent. God is working behind the scenes even when His timing doesn't match ours and He is working behind the scenes even when it looks to us like evil is winning. But in the end, God wins! And when God wins, so does His church!
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