Your Miracle of Divine Reversal In God’s Providence

This is the Truth Network. Powerless to right the wrong that has been done to you. The divine orchestration of Almighty God behind the scenes in ways that we don't even realize take place until we have the outcome and in retrospect can appreciate really what's been done. This principle in God's Word is so powerfully seen in the book of Esther, a short book, nine chapters plus a tenth chapter, which only has three verses.

So you can read this book in one sitting easily. This is the book about God's divine providence working in the life of the Jewish people living in the Persian Empire. The king himself being such an important tool in this divine orchestration that God is working, Queen Esther secretly a Jew herself, her uncle Mordecai, key player here in the way that this story unfolds, all of the Jewish people in the kingdom and then this other key player Haman is the one representing Satan, the adversary, the accuser, much like what you may have experienced, someone you love may have experienced where you feel powerless to right the wrong that has been done to you or is being done to you because the depth of evil as was the case with this wicked Haman is so entrenched and so buffered on every side that there doesn't seem to be hope for an unveiling of what is a disastrous, evil and unfair situation. This issue of God's divine providence is working in your life as the believer who trusts God, who believes him when you are at that place, the feeling you have is one of powerlessness. You are powerless to do anything about your situation. It is out of your hands. Everything that you can do, you have done, yet the wrong that you've suffered remains in place, possibly even intensifying or growing more serious and worst of all, the person who is the culprit who caused the injustice from the beginning, who is the creator of the lie or the accusation remains unchallenged and unknown as far as anyone knows.

They haven't done anything and there you are, hamstrung by your condition that you can do nothing about and the person who has cruelly put you in that place goes free, unchallenged. You know, there's an aspect of God's word that we call, we know as justice. The psalmist said, righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. So it is in the heart of the believer to cry out for justice. Genesis 18 reads this way, will not the judge of all the earth do what is right?

And the answer is yes. God is the judge of all the earth and he, yes, will do what is right. And we know the story of the widow woman in Luke chapter 18 who appealed to the judge this way, avenge me of my enemies, avenge me of my enemies. So the enemy is the problem.

So a person or persons, a situation, the enemy in your case might be delay the weight that you have experienced, although you know you are being treated unrighteously, that your situation is not just or fair. You know that God's plan is to render justice to you, but the delay goes on and on and with it an assault on another level against your confidence, against your ability to trust the Lord. In this place, we cry, we believe God for justice, to right the wrong and one way that God is doing that, and this is good news because especially in the situation of the delay or in a situation of extreme cruelty, you need to know God is not absent and he is not silent on the matter. And it is not that he is not working, he is working behind the scenes. You know, in a short term example, we might just casually call something that really is God's providence, we might think of it as coincidental.

Well coincidentally this happened, or by coincidence this happened, when in fact it could easily be an example of God's divine providence. And the book of Esther is our Bible example, or I would say one, there are many. But in the book of Esther, we see the king of Persia, of ancient Persia, and this man Haman, who is an official, who is influential in the king's palace, and he is plotting, he hates the Jews in the realm. He hates them.

So he's plotting to have the Jews annihilated, he's going to use the king and the king's authority to do it. He hates the Jewish people, especially a man named Mordecai, who is a prominent and beloved member of the community by Jews and non-Jews, Haman hates him. He hates him. And one reason he hates him is because Mordecai will not bow down and pay homage to this wicked court official. He just won't do it.

He just won't. So Haman doesn't know that secretly, here's the good news, secretly Mordecai, the man he hates especially, the Jew he hates especially, is the uncle of the queen, the wife of the king of Persia, who happens to also be a Jew. Especially a Jew. So here's the setting. You've got the king of Persia, his wife Esther, who is a Jew, her uncle is Mordecai, and he is a prominent, loved member of the community, and this man Haman is planning to wipe them out and gain even more favor, except he doesn't realize that wiping the Jews out, he would also take out the king's wife Esther.

So that's the setting. Two things here we need to just focus in on, two points about the outcome of God's providence in the life of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai and the lives of all the Jews living in Persia. Two things. This element of divine reversal and a second element, supernatural increase. So just briefly here, divine reversal is occurring throughout the book of Esther, and one of several of the reversal passages is in Esther chapter six. Right at the beginning, we begin to read in verse one, the king could not sleep one night. The king could not sleep, so he had insomnia for some reason.

And as you might also do when you can't sleep, you get up to find some busy work, right? Well, in the case of the king, he started to review the court records, and in the court records, he discovered that a few years before, and actually the account that he found is in the second chapter of Esther, beginning in verse 19, he discovers this record that there was a plot against his life. The plot was found out by Mordecai the Jew, and the way that the plot was revealed to the king, Mordecai told Esther, his niece, Esther let it be known to the palace that the plot was taking place.

The two culprits who were instigating this assassination plot were caught ahead of time and were punished, and the king is reading this and realizes that he needs to honor this man who it turns out is Mordecai. And that, of course, adds further anger, provoking jealousy in the heart of this Haman, who is an anti-Semite for sure, and we read in chapters 5 and 7 how his wicked plan and his wicked plot begins to backfire and turn on Haman. And we read in chapters 8 and 9 and 10 specific description of the many reversals that took place as God's divine providence begins to take place. And you know, reversal means at one point Haman had the power over Mordecai, and now Haman is dealt with and punished, actually he's executed by the king, and the king gives to Mordecai not only the prominence and the position that Haman had, but he also promotes him to second only to the king in power in the whole realm, and not only that, but the estate belonging to Haman was given to Esther to oversee, and Esther gives it to, of course, her uncle Mordecai. So when we say reversal of your situation, of the evil plot against you, the unfair assignment against you, there is a reversal taking place behind the scenes where the person, our situation, or whatever it is responsible for causing this unfair and cruel assignment against you, be it a sickness or another situation, a relationship, a social thing, a business matter, whatever.

These reversals take place when God's divine providence is working, and secondly, supernatural increase. So by increase, we see not only was the life of Mordecai and Esther and all the Jews saved, but the increase came with the promotion and the acquisition of the land and the estate by the one who was expected to suffer, and the one who was conspiring the plot was dealt with severely, was actually hanged, was executed. So just look again here, the book of Esther, a couple of things. God's name is mentioned nowhere in the book of Esther, and yet he's in every verse.

That's what I mean by working behind the scenes. It doesn't appear that he's present, that he's doing anything significant, but don't be moved by that, because this situation tells us, even if we cannot see him working, even if we don't realize he's working, the book of Esther shows, is evidence that God is active behind the scenes. He might be silent, but he's not absent. His providence is working, and it's not a coincidence, it's his providence, it is God. And you know, if you compare this to times that we visibly see miracles, this is just as miraculous, just as miraculous. We see the outcome of a miracle, we see it working, we see it coming about. This is God's miracle working power, but it's being done under cover, and it's being done over time. Your part, my part, is to trust God while we wait, don't let our confidence dwindle, don't be feeling helpless or hopeless, but rather realize that God's power is about to be unveiled, about to be exposed. His invisible hand, his providence, is working miracles. You ask this, you ask this in that situation, does God see and know what I'm going through?

Does he even care what I'm going through? Because you see, in the delay, in the absence of being able to see, that would be a legitimate question, a legitimate place to come to. But we see, once we realize, in the story of Queen Esther, in this book, we realize the power of God's providence and the assured, the surety, the sureness that we have, that God is working behind the scenes in your life just as well. So our answer, when we ask the question, as we open today, do you feel powerless to right the wrong that's been done to you?

Do you? Well, the answer is this. We glean from the book of Esther just how much he actually is doing. He's reversing the impossible. He's reversing unfair and unjust situations. He's exposing the true source of those unjust and unfair schemes, cruel schemes that were meant to destroy you. And why does he do it? Well, he does it for his glory. He does it for his namesake. He does it for his purposes in your life. Really, to see and manifest glory in your life, his glory in your life, his name as the standard for your life, and his purpose revealed and demonstrated for your life. So if your question is at any point in any time, when, Lord, when I've waited, I've trusted, I believe you, avenge me of my enemy, this is unfair, where is your justice? When that question comes, remember this, as was the case with Mordecai, God's providence in your life is certain, and his providence is supplying the miracle, the answer, the outcome that no one else can provide, not you, not another person, not another supernatural being, nothing.

God's providence is working to bring that about. And just as was the case with Mordecai, where God not only stopped the death sentence that was against him, but also changed his life status. He became a ruler, a powerful official. He was no longer just a citizen, just a prominent citizen. Now he is escalated to ruler, to prominent, powerful official, and powerful land owner.

You see, when God's providence is working, he not only is reversing things, but he's increasing your status. How do we know that? Why would we say that?

Are we speculating or is that a wild thought? It isn't. God's word reveals a perfect example of his divine providence. In the book of Esther chapters one through 10, important to believe God that way, trust him that way, as he reveals himself in his divine providence in your life. You can trust him, you can believe him. He's at work behind the scenes and his delay cannot be delayed.

His timing is everything. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list, download the ministry app, and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional, Running with Horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time. Bye.