April 1str Devotion

The Ride of Your Life – Chuck Swindoll

Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”

“Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?” (Esther 7:3-5)

Talk about the power of a woman! Can you believe Esther's diplomacy and sensitivity, even in the midst of pleading for her life and the lives of her people? "If we were only being sold into slavery, I wouldn't have troubled you with this matter. You have so many important matters to worry about, I wouldn't have bothered you. But he wants to annihilate us!" Esther beautifully portrays in this moment the character qualities of greatness. Her husband is all ears!

Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who would presume to do thus?" (Esther 7:5).

At this point, I confess that my response might have been something like, "What do you mean, 'Who is he?' You were there when Haman proposed this heinous thing. You gave him your seal to sign the edict. What do you mean, 'Who is he?' Open your eyes!" Thankfully, I wasn't there to blow it.

We live in a world of preoccupied people. They, too, live in a fog—the fog of busyness, stress, and obligations. Who knows how many edicts Ahasuerus signed that day? Who knows how many pressing matters of government were on his mind? The king had countless decisions to make. And Haman, a trusted official, had proposed it in such a way that he seemed to be solving a problem that directly affected the good of the kingdom. So the king probably signed it without giving it a great deal of attention, believing that Haman, a man he trusted, knew what he was doing.

Suddenly, however, things changed. Never try to convince me that some situations in this life are absolutely permanent. God can move in the heart of a king. He can move an entire nation. He can bring down the once-impenetrable Iron Curtain. He can change the mind of your stubborn mate. He can move in the affairs of your community. He can alter decisions of presidents, prime ministers, present-day kings, and national dictators. No barrier is too high, no chasm is too wide for Him, because He's not limited by space or time, by the visible or the invisible. Remember, He lives in a realm that transcends all that. He is all-powerful. When God is ready to move, He moves. And when He does, hang on. You're in for the ride of your life!