Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Esther chapter 2 verses 5 and 6.

Now there is a Jew in Susa the sildal whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jayir, son of Shimai, son of Kish,

a Benjaminite who had been carried away from Jerusalem, among the captives carried away

with Jekinaya King of Judah Judah whom Nebuchinezer king of Babylon

had carried away.

Wow what a quick summary of deep hurt.

This is Mordecai's introduction,

one of the many people whose lives were affected

by the Babylonian takeover in Jerusalem, but effect it actually doesn't seem like the best word, like turned upside down through suffering.

This was such a hard time God's people invaded by a foreign army taken as

refugees to a foreign land, split up and feeling like slaves in that foreign land and Mordecai was one of the

captives carried away. You can only imagine how hard, how challenging, how deep that suffering was those days were, but now

here in the Book of Esther we're beginning to see how God was working even in that to bring

Mordecai to this place where Mordecai is going to play a prominent role in the salvation of God's people,

in the preservation of God's people and ultimately the return of God's people

to the promised land. But Mordecai didn't know any of that when he was walking through that suffering.

And I just want to encourage you today, particularly if you are walking through hard days.

When you think about hard days in the past or in the future in your life trust that God is

working and not just working but that God will not waste this suffering that you're

walking through tragedies that you face that God is a redeemer, that God takes that which the

adversary intends for evil and he turns it for good. God turns tragedies into triumphs.

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