Gallows & Chronicles: Timing Is Everything

The story of Queen Esther is one of the first stories in the Bible that I fell in love with. It is full of so many precious principles. One of the things that the book of Esther teaches us is that, even when we can’t see it, God is working things out for our good.

What’s a story without a villain. In the Book of Esther, the wicked Haman serves as the villain. Haman is one of the king’s officials. He is a prideful man who becomes incensed when Mordecai refuses to bow to him. When Haman learns that Mordecai is a Jew, he is not

satisfied to just kill Mordecai, he devises a scheme to exterminate all of the Jews in Susa.

Mordecai urges Queen Esther—who, too, is a Jew—to go before the king on behalf of her people. We’re all familiar with the famous verse from Esther 4:14, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Through fear and trepidation, Esther accepts this sacred mission and utters a vow that is also renowned from the Book of Esther: “If I perish, I perish.”

After three days of prayer and fasting, Esther risks life and limb to go before the king. Her request? That the king and Haman attend a banquet that she has prepared.

At the banquet, the king urges Esther to share what’s on her heart. Instead the queen asks that the king and Haman attend yet another banquet the very next day.

Why not just expose Haman’s evil plot right then and there? Why a second banquet? Because timing is everything.

Between the first banquet and the second banquet two key things happened. First, Haman builds a gallows from which he intends to hang Mordecai. Second, upon the reading of the chronicles, the king discovers how his life was spared, and intends to honor Mordecai. One wants to hang Mordecai. The other wants to honor him.

At the second banquet, gallows and chronicles would come together in a way that only God Himself could orchestrate. The end result? Haman’s wicked plan is foiled, and God’s people are redeemed.

The lesson. God sees you. He sees the wicked plan that your spiritual and your natural enemies have devised to destroy you. Seek Him. Trust Him. Know that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Declare that all things work together for your good. And finally, wait on the Lord. Timing is everything.