God has given us one book that can change the entire direction of our lives, the Bible.

And in this study, journeying through scriptures, we will take a brief big-picture look at every book of the Bible, tracing God's unfolding story from Genesis to Revelation.

Our prayer is that this journey will stir your heart to open God's word daily.

Let's join Scott Pauli for today's study.

Did you know that there's a book of the Bible that the name of God is not found in? Now ponder that just a moment. Do you know what it is? We're journeying through the scriptures

and we've come along the path now to the little book of Esther. Esther is the second book that bears a lady's name. We remember the first was Ruth.

Esther is a third book here that deals with the period after the exile. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

These three little books, the end of the historical section, give us an overview of what God does

after their captivity. Ezra and Nehemiah dealt with the Jews that returned, about 50,000 of them.

But Esther, interestingly enough, deals with the Jews that remained. You see, not all of them went back.

In fact, the majority of Jews stayed where they were. So they weren't returning

Jews. They were remaining Jews. And I love this. Even in a far country, God is preserving the

godly line. Even far from home, God was working to keep his promise and to protect his people.

And he does it through a woman, a young woman by the name of Esther.

And yes, the name of God is not found in the book of Esther.

How could that be?

Oh, my friend, in that little truth, in that little bit of Bible trivia, there is the great message of the book.

Here's the message.

God's hand is present when his name is not. You see, this book is about the divine providence of God. It's about God being present

and at work, even behind the scenes, protecting and providing even when people don't recognize it.

Some people have thought that the book of Esther was all about the wicked plot of a very wicked man by the name of Haman to kill off all the Jews.

And indeed, that is found in this book.

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