The Big Read – Esther

Powerpoint Pictures: Dandelion seeds blowing; Sun; Object falling to ground; Coronavirus; Wi-Fi Router

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Can you think of anything, which you know exists, but which you cannot see?  Something which you know is there but is invisible to your eyes?

Here’s some ideas.  Did you think of any of these?

Wind. You can see what it does, like blowing off the seeds of a dandelion, but you cannot actually see it.

Heat. You can feel the heat when the sun is on your face, but you can’t actually see heat.

Gravity. You know it is there as you watch objects fall to the ground, but gravity is something that is invisible.

Coronavirus. People are catching it and it makes people sick, but you are not able to see the actual virus with your eyes.

And Wi-Fi.  You can see the box your TV, device gets internet from, but not the radio frequencies being received.

Now there’s a book in the Bible, which is unusual, because it is a book that God’s name is never mentioned in.

Do you know what book that is?

It is the book of Esther.

But even though God’s name is not mentioned, He is clearly the central character in this story it tells.

Esther tells the story of how God cared for His people when they were in exile under Persian rule.  God’s people were threatened with being wiped out and destroyed, yet in the end they triumphed and were saved.

How?

God kept them safe, but the way He did this was in a way that unseen, that wasn’t obvious or easy to see.

He did it through lots of “it just so happened” moments or coincidences.  One of which, was that it just so happened that there was a Jew who was the wife of the King of Persia, the man who had the power to save or destroy the Jews.  Her name was Esther. And it just so happened that she had the opportunity to speak to the king on behalf of the Jews in order to keep them safe.

Her uncle Mordecai said to her, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

Well, Esther did speak to the King and that was how God saved His people.

You may not see God’s name in the book of Esther, but you do see His plan to save His people being carried out.

The same is true when Jesus died on the cross. It seems like God was absent as Jesus cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  But in reality, He was there making sure that His plan to save people from their sins was successful.

The book of Esther encourages us to trust God and be faithful to Him even when it seems like He is not there. He is, and He will save us if we trust in His Son Jesus, because that is what He has promised to do.

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More talks from The Big Read for Kids can be found HERE.

(Photo: Freely)