There are a lot of things in this story that “just so happened.” Coincidence? I think not.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is January 29, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called The Right Place at the Right Time. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 30, Mark 1, and Esther 6.
Please open your Bibles to Esther 6.
I was at work one time and I came around the corner to find one of my coworkers opening a letter. It was a thank you note for some kind of event he had done and there was a Starbucks gift card inside. My friend saw me, reached out to me with the gift card and said, “I don’t like coffee. Why don’t you have this.” I gratefully accepted. Grande black Americano, here I come.
I enjoyed the coffee that the gift card bought me, but I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t earn it. I wasn’t the one who had served at the event. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. All I did was come around the corner at just the right moment. You could say, “it just so happened…”
In our Scripture for Students today, we’re going to read another story about someone who was in the right place at the right time. And we’re going to see that there is more to it than “it just so happened…”
Esther 6:1–13
1 On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
2 And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
3 And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4 And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5 And the king’s young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”
6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”
7 And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,
8 let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set.
9 And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’ ”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.”
11 So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.
13 And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.”
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
This is such a great story. A few days ago, we looked at Esther chapter 1 and talked about how much irony there is in this book. Well, there is a bunch more in this chapter.
It begins with a sleepless night. King Ahasuerus couldn’t sleep. There was no TV to turn on, so he did what a lot of people do when they can’t sleep: he read a book. But since he was the king, he didn’t actually have to do the work of reading himself. He had a book read to him. And what “just so happens” to be on the page that night was the story of a man named Mordecai, who “just so happened” to overhear two of the king’s servants plotting to kill the king. Mordecai intervened, the assassins were dealt with, the king’s life was spared, and the whole matter was quickly forgotten. Here, as the king is passing this sleepless night with a not-so-cozy bedtime story of attempted regicide, he realizes that he never properly thanked Mordecai for saving his life.
He is still mulling this over when the wicked Haman shows up for work in the morning. Remember that Haman has a plot of his own: his wants to kill all the Jewish people because he is so angry at Mordecai—the same Mordecai who saved the life of the king. Can you feel the tension building? In verse 6, the king asks Haman what should be done for the person the king wants to honor. Haman thinks the king wants to honor him because he is so arrogant, he can’t imagine that the king would want to honor anyone else. So he cooks up a wildly elaborate pageantry which the king tells him to go and do for Mordecai.
This isn’t tell-a-joke funny, but if you aren’t laughing at Haman by now, you’ve missed the point of the story. Haman is meant to look utterly ridiculous. But, even while we savor the humor of this story, it is important to recognize that there is a deeper point here. This is the story of a great reversal: reversals like this are repeated over and over again throughout the Bible, from Joseph and his brothers to the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, to Daniel and the lion’s den, to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
But what is particularly interesting about this story, here in the book of Esther, is that there is no mention of God’s role in the great reversal. In fact, God is not named once in the book of Esther; it is the only book of the Bible that doesn’t mention God. Are we supposed to think that all of this “just so happened” to come about? What if Mordecai had not overheard the plot to kill Ahasuerus? What if the king had slept well that night? What if someone else had showed up for work before Haman that day? This story could have gone a lot of different ways, right? Or could it?
Just because God’s name isn’t mentioned in Esther does not mean that God is not actively arranging circumstances to accomplish his purposes for Esther, Mordecai, Haman, Ahasuerus, and all the Jewish people.
This can be a great comfort for us, my friends. The wise reader of Esther recognizes that God is present in, around, and through this story, even if he is not named outright. And when we read our stories wisely, we will also see God’s activity in all the circumstances of our lives. This helps us to trust God. There is great comfort in the confidence that God is at work in our lives, even when it seems like we are just “in the right place at the right time.”
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!