I think knowing the ending can really mess with the way we read a story.
We read Esther 2 already knowing she becomes queen. We know Haman is coming. We know Mordecai will eventually be honored. We know how God is going to use all of this, so it's easy to read this chapter and see the crown.
But Esther didn't know any of that.
She was an orphan being raised by Mordecai, living in exile, and suddenly she's taken into a situation she didn't choose. She didn't walk into that palace knowing this was all part of some bigger plan. She was just living the chapter she was in.
And aren't we all?
I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what God is doing with things that aren't finished yet. Why did this door close? Why did that change? Why am I here? Why did I go through that? Why did I put so much into something that seemed to go nowhere? I want Chapter 6 answers while I'm still standing in Chapter 2.
Then there's Mordecai. He overhears a plot against the king, tells Esther, she reports it, the whole thing is investigated and his good deed is written down in the official records.And then nothing. He did the right thing and nobody threw him a party. Nobody promoted him. Nobody even seemed to remember. But it was written down.
Now we know that Later a king is going to have a sleepless night. Those records are going to be pulled out, Mordecai's name is going to be read, and something that looked completely forgotten is going to matter.
But not today. Today is still Chapter 2.
And I needed that reminder today. There are things I've prayed about that I'm still waiting on. Things I've poured myself into that didn't turn out the way I thought they would. Doors that closed, plans that changed, places God took me that made absolutely no sense while I was standing in them.
Looking back, I can see His fingerprints on so many of them now. I couldn't then. So I'm learning to stop calling something wasted just because I haven't seen what God is going to do with it yet. I'm learning to stop calling myself forgotten just because nobody noticed. And I'm definitely learning that I don't need to know how this chapter connects to the next six.
Today we just need to be faithful in the chapter we're in. Go to work. Love people. Pray. Serve. Build what He's told you to build. Do the right thing even when nobody notices and trust God with the pages we haven't gotten to yet. God is already in Chapter 6 while we're still living Chapter 2.
He's Hidden, not absent.
His fingerprints are everywhere.
Love Pastor Mandy
Daily reading Esther 2
MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope
#HiddenNotAbsent #Esther2 #HisFingerprintsAreEverywhere #FaithfulToday #BookOfEsther #ArkOfHope
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