One Minute Bible
52 Week Curriculum
Our Unstoppable God
Esther
Objectives
· To define “providence” and highlight ways in which it works in the story of Esther.
· To watch for and celebrate God’s providential work in our lives.
Overview
Most people believe that there is a God. And, given that belief, most people agree that he must be sovereign. In other words, if God exists at all, he must be in charge and powerful enough to do just about anything.
It’s not the power of God that people have a problem with. It’s the participation of God in the details of life. Most people believe God is real; they just don’t believe he really cares. To the typical person, God is an all-powerful being who presides over the big picture. He established physical and spiritual laws, then he wound up this universe like a giant toy and let her fly. Other than making a few mid-course corrections, he keeps his hands off and watches things go.
Certainly God doesn’t have time to sweat the details. He’s too big and important. He’s too consumed with world affairs. He’s too busy to take much notice of me. Sure, I can pray. And maybe if I bug God enough, he’ll give me a second or two of his time and do a little something for me. Like a disinterested parent, maybe he’ll grab his wallet, hand me a bill, and tell me to run along.
Now, to the theologically informed, that sounds ignorant. But considering the way many of us live and pray, I’m convinced that’s the kind of God we believe in.
The story of Esther, like so much of the Bible, pictures God quite differently. The God of the Bible is not disinterested or overworked. He is actively and passionately involved in the details of life. The God of the Bible exercises providential control over everything.
Read the great stories of the Bible. Read Job. Read Jesus. There’s not a hair on your head that doesn’t have a number assigned to it. There’s not a bird that dies apart from God’s will. There’s not a dew drop that forms that God didn’t give birth to. God has laid out the exact length of each person’s life, and determined where each of us should live and what each of us should be involved in.
That’s God’s providence. It’s his sovereign control over the details of life. It’s the fact related to God’s power that shows him to be lovingly involved in our lives.
And, it’s the principle we see at work in Esther. Four of the readings in the One Minute Bible highlight major events in her life. In this study, we want to put some meat on the bones of this story and show how God worked -- through, around, and in spite of the characters in this book.
God gave us this picture of providence to inspire us. It shows us that we serve an unstoppable God. It tells us that we, like Esther, might have been chosen “for such a time as this”. And it reminds us that even when we step out of God’s will, he still loves us enough to draw us back and make us useful to him.
“If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from another place.
But who knows? You may have been chosen queen for such a time as this.” Esther 4:14
Outline
In teaching this study, we first need to establish what God’s providence is. Second, we need to retell Esther’s story, focusing on God’s providence in action. Third, we need to make personal application, challenging our students to look for God’s work in their lives and cooperate with his purposes.
God’s Providence in the Story of Esther
1. Definition -- The Meaning of Providence
Providence describes God’s work in ordaining, overseeing, and using all the details of life for his purposes. Proverbs 16:9, 33; 19:21; 20:24; Job 38-41; Matthew 10:28-30; and Acts 17:26,28 flesh out the concept.
2. Illustration -- The Story of Esther
Summarize and retell the entire story of Esther, emphasizing these points.
a. God can work -- even through the most disobedient people.
It’s important to realize that Esther and Mordecai were disobedient people. Though their character shined through in the end, they weren’t walking with God at first. The fact is, they should not even have been in Persia. Years before, God had permitted the release of this captive people and commanded them to return to Israel. But rather than return to a difficult, agrarian lifestyle in a ruined land, many chose to enjoy the comfortable urban life in the land of their enemies. This included Esther and Mordecai.
We see their ungodliness in the fact that the name of God is never even mentioned in the story. Apparently, they were not exactly close to him. Unlike Daniel who had gone before them, we do not see Esther rejecting the lifestyle of this pagan culture. Daniel refused to eat non-kosher foods, participate in foreign religion, or hide his Jewish faith. Esther, on the other hand, willfully took part in the king’s beauty pageant, enjoyed the royal lifestyle, and hid her Jewish roots. Daniel would have died rather than disobey God by marrying a foreigner. Esther willingly pursued it.
b. God can work -- even through the most impossible odds.
Left to chance, there’s no way Esther could have succeeded in hiding her nationality and winning the approval of the king. On her own, how could an orphaned peasant girl rise to the position of queen? How could she get away with defying royal law and approaching the king uninvited? Vashti was banished for insubordination…how is that Esther got away with it?
Only because God was at work behind the scenes.
And consider Mordecai’s ‘good fortune”. What are the chances that he would overhear an assassination plot? What are the chances that he would go unrewarded for months, maybe years, and then be remembered at the most opportune time? Was he just lucky? Of course not! These things didn’t happen by chance or coincidence. They happened because God was orchestrating events.
c. God can work -- even through the most trivial circumstances.
As a cure for insomnia, the king could have called for soothing music, wine, or a woman from his harem. Instead, he asked someone to read aloud the records of the kingdom, and the minutes of boring meetings.
What are the chances that the reader would open to the brief mention of Mordecai, who had foiled the assassination plot? Slim, at best. Yet God worked against those odds…and through something as trivial as sleeplessness.
3. Application -- Living for such a time as this
Everything in this story points to Esther 4:14…God has chosen Esther to be his agent for this precise time, to save his disobedient people. That shows God’s grace and power. And it shows how he may be working through you. You may find yourself in the right place at the right time, not by chance but by God’s design. Get on board with His program and make yourself useful! You may be where you are for such a time as this!
Discussion Guide
Open
Prepare a good illustration of a coincidental event in which you or someone else was in just the right place at the right time. Use it as an opener or as a transition into the Bible study phase of your meeting.
· Do you believe in luck or chance? Explain.
· How many of you have even been involved in some sort of bizarre coincidence…or have seen something strange and good happen by pure luck…or have been, by chance, in exactly the right place at the right time? Share your stories.
· Do you think that some things happen by chance and luck -- or is God always behind lucky things?
Dig In
1. Define providence. Introduce this concept and give some biblical examples of it, using the material from the teaching outline.
2. Review the story of Esther, emphasizing these major points:
Esther’s background as an orphan and disobedient Jew. / Haman’s plot to exterminate the Jews.Vashiti’s disobedience and the search for a new queen. / The plan of Mordecai and Esther to seek help from the king.
Mordecai’s uncovering of the assassination plot. / The king’s sleepless night and the bizarre turn of events for Haman.
3. Discuss the lessons of this story, using material from the teaching outline as a supplement.
· What events in this story could we call bizarre, lucky, or coincidental?
· How can you see the hand of an unstoppable God throughout this story?
· What do you think about the fact that God used two disobedient people – Esther and Mordecai – to save a whole nation of disobedient people? Why do you think He did that?
· Listen to what Mordecai said when he urged Esther to act on behalf of the Jewish people:
“Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your family will perish. And who knows but you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14
How would these words humble Esther?
How would they change her spiritual perspective on the situation?
· What does Haman’s ‘bad luck’ teach you about God’s providence?
Close
1. How does this story make you feel about God? Does it help you believe in the fact that he is orchestrating the events of your life?
2. Could God be telling you that you’re here “for such a time as time as this?”
What might your mission be in the time and place that you live?
Week 40 - Page 1