Esther 2:1 (ESV)

[1] After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

In this second chapter of Esther we begin to see the plot unfolding. Pieces of the puzzle are beginning to be put into place. Esther is made queen. Mordecai saves the king’s life. A record is made of Mordecai’s actions. As the story unfolds these seemingly disruptive life events become the catalyst for saving the people of God. Looking back we can see it, but I’m sure that neither Mordecai nor Esther had a clue of the significance of these events at the time they occurred.

So with our lives. Often God is putting pieces into place to accomplish his purposes. A random encounter with a stranger. A seemingly negative and disruptive event in life occurs like an accident, a sickness, the loss of a job, a death in the family, etc. We can’t see the importance of it. We can’t see any possible good. How can a young woman being conscripted into a Persian king’s harem be a good thing? Yet God is putting things into place. He is sovereign.

Along with the sovereignty of God unfolding in this story, the second chapter of Esther reveals an interesting contrast. Notice the difference between the king’s lack of wisdom, in fact the lack of wisdom in Persians in general, and the wisdom of Mordecai and Esther. The king made a decision out of drunkenness and anger. When his anger abated he had to deal with the consequences of his actions. At the end of the chapter two of his eunuchs plot the king’s assassination out of anger. The result is the loss of their own lives. Mordecai, on the other hand is keeping an eye on Esther. Esther is listening to the advice of the eunuch over the virgins. They are acting with wisdom and self-control in a situation over which they have very little control. The king and his eunuchs are acting with little wisdom and self-control in a situation where they have much control.

What a contrast not only between Persians and Jews, but between Jews in exile and Jews in their homeland. At the end of Judges, the Jews are described as more ungodly than the people around them When the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and carry the Jews off into captivity it is because the Jews have unwisely ignored the repeated warnings of their prophets. Now they are acting with great wisdom. The same could be said for Daniel and his friends. In captivity the people of God have finally become wise and begun to live accordingly.

In our own lives it seems that it sometimes takes a crisis to shake us up and get us to start listening to God. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 4:5-7 says,

“Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

Mordecai and Esther seem to have gotten wisdom. In a situation where God has apparently abandoned his people He is there. He is protecting them when things don’t appear to make sense. He is providing them with wisdom beyond themselves, while turning the wisdom of the Persians into foolishness. In Psalms 55:9 David prayed, “Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech for I see violence and strife in the city” (NIV). That is exactly what God is doing in Esther 2. We may not see him at work. We may feel like everything is out of control. We may feel like children up against giants, but we can trust him. In faith comes wisdom.

James 1:4-5 (NIV)

[4] Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. [5] If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.