Who Does God Choose to Work Through?

Reflections

BibleProject

God, Spirituality, Jesus, The Bible Project, Tim Mackie, Theology, Bibleproject, Meditation, Religion, New Testament, Bible, Mindfulness, Religion & Spirituality, Bible Study, Cheree Hayes, Christianity, Old Testament, Reflection

5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2021

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The book of Esther is a classic expression of the biblical idea that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. And God is still in the habit of elevating those who society has deemed unimportant. It might not always look as heroic as Esther’s story, but God can use anybody as an instrument for his purposes. If we want to partner with God, we don’t have to be rich, important, or powerful. We simply need to trust him over everything else.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What kind of person does God choose to work through most often? Can he work through me, too?
0:23.0	Hey, this is Shri from Bible Project. In this episode, Tim is teaching us from the book of Esther.
0:29.7	If you've been doubting whether or not God could use you or your community for his kingdom,
0:35.5	stay tuned. Today's message is full of hope. Listen in.
0:41.8	Hey everybody, this is Tim Mecky at Bible Project. We're asking you to reflect on the story of Esther
0:48.0	this week. This is one of the most well-known stories in the Hebrew Bible. The setting is about
0:54.4	100 years after Israel's exile to Babylon. And by this time, Israelites are scattered all over
1:00.1	the ancient world, living in the empires of that day. And Esther and Mordecai, who are the main
1:04.8	characters in the book of Esther, they live in a community of exiles in the Persian Empire's
1:10.3	capital city of Susa, this is around the mid-400s BC. And that line of the story is fairly simple.
1:17.2	Through a remarkable and seemingly random series of events, Esther, the Jew, ends up being elevated
1:23.7	as a queen. Around the same time, that a very dastardly figure, Heyman, is plotting and getting
1:29.5	royal permission to eradicate the Jewish people from the empire. And so Esther, who wasn't aiming
1:35.3	for royal fame, she seized, and she's taken into the king's harem. And around the same time,
1:40.8	her cousin Mordecai, who was not plotting for political power, he just happened to overhear a plot
1:46.0	to murder the king. And so after he blew the whistle on the assassination, he ends up being
1:50.8	praised as a hero. And so together, Mordecai and Esther, they're able to expose Heyman's
1:56.0	plan to the king, and so the villain is executed, the heroes are elevated to royal authority and
2:01.8	the story ends with God's people rescued and thriving in exile. And so this story goes to great
2:07.0	lengths to emphasize the very unplanned and surprising nature of what happens to Mordecai and Esther.
2:13.9	And of course, the kicker is that nowhere in the Hebrew version of Esther is God ever mentioned
2:19.5	at all. It's a very intentional literary move by the author that forces you and I, the readers,
	...

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