the hand inside the glove

The Word for today:
Esther 1

I do not have 20-20 spiritual vision. I often look at a set of circumstances and call it coincidence. But Shelley looks at the very same circumstances and sees the hand of God.

Two or three years will pass. Then, upon further review, I can see that she made the right call in the first place! Someday I hope to be able to discern God's hand in the 'now' and not the 'later.'

Reading the book of Esther, we enter the realm of God's providence.

"Providence" is the means by which God directs all things--animate and inanimate, seen and unseen, good and evil--toward a worthy purpose:
The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:19)

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)

The most striking pictures of providence in scripture can be seen in the lives of Joseph, Ruth, and Esther. When we read these stories, we realize that God's unseen hand is moving the glove of visible circumstances:
In this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:27-28)

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God is never mentioned in the book of Esther, but his fingerprints are all over the scene! The Psalmist pictured it this way:
Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. (Psalms 77:19)

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