"Coincidences"

Tonight has been a night of some amazing “coincidences”, in particular two things that have contributed. The first is from my home group tonight, and the second is from my mate at College. Both of what was said parallels quite nicely and somewhat profoundly. I think there’s a message from God in all of this, so I think I’d better write it down for future reference, as well as for the benefit of whoever visits my lovely corner of the Internet world.

I’ll start with home group: we looked at the book of Esther tonight. Our aims were to delve into the book and create a character study of Esther’s two chief characters: Esther and Mordecai. We split into two even groups and studied a character each (my half chose Mordecai). When we met back, it was amazing to see just what we pulled out of the book. What was equally more amazing was that both of us zeroed in on perhaps the  key point of the entire book. Basically, the book of Esther explains a string of “coincidences”, one after another, in succession. First, Esther just “happened” to be chosen as the new Queen, who just “happened” to discover a plot against her people, the Jews. She just “happened” to win the King’s favor enough to have the Jews spared, and just “happened” to be written in the legacy that is the Bible. Those who have read Esther will jump on the key point: God is behind it all. Although He himself doesn’t get mentioned even once, nonetheless God doesn’t have to be blatant for it to be of God.
The key point in the book was the sentence that Mordecai gives to Esther: “For such a time as this”. Explaining Esther’s position, Mordecai charges her with why she’s Queen in the first place: to save the Jews from genocide. Being the only  person conceivable who would have spoken up for the Jews, Esther agrees despite the conviction that she could die trying.
For me – and for the group as a whole – the “for such a time as this” passage speaks volumes to us today. And I want to link this with what a good mate at College said (you know who you are): The Bible speaks of God’s redemptive work throughout creation and history. And we as humans have a chance to act in God’s redemptive plan. As my mate put it, we get to write something in the Bible. Not literally speaking, but we have our lives, and we have this golden opportunity to bring about that which the Bible speaks of. What an amazing “coincidence”, that in two days I hear this central theme. I don’t want to risk making it more of an issue than what it ought to be, but dare I say I think there is a word from God for all of us…

…for such a time as this.