Triumph from Tragedy

“May my accusers be humiliated and defeated. May those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.”   Psalm 71:13

 Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse… Throughout history, people have faced trial and tribulation. We don’t like it. It’s not fun. We wouldn’t request it as we offer our petitions to God. But, could it be what’s best for us?

 As we turn toward the end of Esther’s story, we see the Jews disseminated amongst the various provinces of Persia. They are stretched from India to Ethiopia, and along with them, God’s truth. They had been uprooted from their homeland and carried off into exile, but was God seeking to be mean to them through this, or was He using them to plant the seeds of His love and truth throughout the known world? No, these people weren’t carrying the gospel, it hadn’t been written yet, but they were the people of God. They had His Word. They had His Name. Wherever they went, they were different. Haman even called it out in Esther 3:8 when he said, “There is a particular people that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king's laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them.”

 Later, in the book of Acts chapter 8, we see the first church scattered throughout Judea and Samaria by persecution. This would continue, spreading God’s people through these same lands that they were spread in the book of Esther. As the Christians were dispersed to other countries, they took with them their faith and God’s truth. I can’t help but wonder if some of the people they encountered had been influenced by the seeds planted by the exiles of long ago? If pieces of God’s truth had been embedded in these societies, leaving a doorway for the Holy Spirit to minister to the people.

 Many years ago, I took a class called Perspectives which looked at the history and theory of missions. Each week, we would have a different speaker that was involved in missions in some way, often being a missionary themselves. One week, we had the blessing of hearing from Don Richardson, missionary, speaker and author. He told us the incredible story of the Peace Child that he wrote about in one of his books*. It’s a great read and I highly recommend it. My biggest takeaway from his talk, though, was the idea that God had planted a key concept into the culture of the cannibals that Don’s family was ministering to that opened the door for the gospel. You see, when Don initially tried to share the gospel with them, the natives believed that Judas was the hero of the story because in their culture they prized trickery and betrayal as the highest of character traits. But when war between the tribes threatened to devastate the people, one group stepped forward with an offering of peace, the chief’s own child, given to the other tribe to raise. This act of trust was a part of their people’s tradition and God pointed out to Don the parallels between it and how God had given His Son to mankind to raise. Don shared this with the natives as well as pointing out how Judas had betrayed a Peace Child – everything began to fall into place! From here, Don began to notice in other people groups He visited or ministered to, spiritual pieces of their history or tradition that pointed directly to Christ. He proposes that every culture on earth has these embedded in it as it says in Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

 Today, persecution is very real. According to The Esther Project (aptly named, eh?), roughly 1,093,000 Christians were martyred, worldwide, between 2000 and 2010. This isn’t an issue of the ancient past, but something happening every month, every day, around the world. Christians are dying every day, and yet, the church isn’t dying. As people are scattered, often running in fear for their lives, they are picked up and moved into a new place, a new situation, a new community, and they bring their deeply held beliefs with them, even if they can bring little else. Why does God allow persecution? Well, truly, only He can answer that completely, but we see evidence throughout human history that persecution has widened the sharing of the gospel and brought God’s promise of hope further and deeper throughout the world. Stories of people who suffer, whether it is for their faith or not, but have hope, are inspirational and point people to God in a way that a regular sermon could not. It is when you see the conviction, the strength of belief, and the joy that people who should have no joy experience that you see the power of the gospel.

 In a less extreme and dramatic way, I believe that God is at work in our family. My husband’s recent layoff could be seen as a terrible thing and the uncertain future of my healthcare as tragic. But really, I think that this could be one of the best things that has ever happened to us! I believe that God will use it for His good purposes and move us into another place (whether physically or vocationally). Just as the edict sent out by Haman in Esther 3 seemed to be terrible, God turned it around into an opportunity in Esther 8 for the Jews to triumph over their enemies instead! This sudden and disheartening ending of my husband’s career may be the beginning of something incredible as well.

Here's the Thing: Satan makes his plans, but God is never surprised. On the contrary, God uses those plans for good, instead of the evil that Satan had intended. God turns it upside down. I have faith and hope in that God. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is ultimately in control and even things that seem evil and awful will be turned around for good.

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