The plot thickens

Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews – young and old, women and children – on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. Esther 3:13

The Psalmist in Psalm 73 describes himself as having almost slipped when he found himself envying the wicked. The question was “why do the wicked prosper?” What may baffle you sometimes is why people who do evil get away with it when they do evil to the people of God. Even in recent days, on the evening of June 17 2015, ten innocent people, who had gathered with other believers in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, were shot and nine of them died. Their Senior Pastor is among those dead. And this is not to mention the unspeakable work of ISIS!

In the Book of Esther, an evil Haman had got the king to rubber stamp a plan to annihilate all the Jews (the people of God) and loot all their belongings. How do we make sense of these issues?

Yesterday, at church, we looked at the sovereignty of God. In Ephesians 1:11 we read that He “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will”. It is always necessary as we worship and admire God to always stand back and look at his purposes and to see him as One who is working them out. We need to process things that go on around us and even in our own lives in the light of God’s big story and purpose. He is in control and there is nothing that happens that is beyond is control or without his permission.

Let us ask him to give us faith – the ability to believe in Him and to trust Him entirely, even when there are things we cannot make sense of. Thank Him and worship Him for His sovereignty. He is good!

Comments

comments

Be real as I am real

<blockquote>My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? Psalm 22:1</blockquote> Psal

Chains for Christ

<blockquote><sup>12</sup> Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[b] that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. <su


A promise of grace and power

<blockquote><sup>6</sup> Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will

Worry Part 3: The Attitude

<blockquote><sup>6</sup> Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to