God Uses People: Esther

Sometimes, in times of stress or hardship, we may wonder if God is doing anything!

           

As a student preacher in college many years ago, I wondered how God would get me into a church. I didn’t know much, I wasn’t connected to influential people, and I was struggling with deciding which Seminary I would attend to finish my education. I was slightly afraid of the whole thing. I even wondered if I had correctly discerned God’s call on my life into the preaching ministry. Looking back, though, I can now see the ways that God was working!

          

While this was all happening, the long-term Pastor in my home church retired, and some new guy was there – a total stranger! He attended my wedding, one of his first events as the new Pastor. We talked for a little bit and immediately became friends. He questioned my life plans and even made it a point to speak to my new bride. He was just a nice, average person who happened to be a preacher -or so I thought! In just a few months, this new friend that God had brought into my life greatly impacted my life.

 

In the months after the wedding, my new friend investigated the churches around my home church and found a small church without a pastor. He made a few phone calls on my behalf and then called me one evening. 

 

He told me he had found a small church that needed a pastor and wondered if I would be interested. I was astounded that he had done this for me! 

 

One thing led to another, and just a couple of months later, that small church called me as their Pastor. We eventually moved from the college town we lived in for five years into the church’s parsonage. For the next three years, I practiced the craft of preaching, made good friends, learned to lead a church, and, to top it all off, decided to attend a seminary within an easy driving distance from my church. God was working! He worked through a man God had brought into my contacts; He worked through my new friend’s desire to help a young, unproven preacher student get into a church. He worked through those first few years of my service as a Pastor and attending a Seminary to shape me for the next 40 years of Ministry.  

 

Looking back at my story, I am reminded that God is working—even when you don’t realize it! This is one of the great messages of the Bible, and it is particularly evident in the Book of Esther. 

 

Esther was just a young girl in the city of Susa, but God had plans for her. She ended up the wife of the King and earned the title “Queen Esther.” 

She worked in a corrupt and terrifying system to make a good life and even save her Jewish relatives from annihilation. 

 

She is remembered fondly by those of the Jewish faith and is a testament to the truth that God is at work, even when you may not realize it at the time. God used a young woman and her cousin, Mordecai, to save his people. All they did was place their faith in God’s direction, and He did all the rest!

 

Let me encourage you to allow God to work in your life. Ask and pray for guidance from Him, and when you sense his leadership, follow him in faith. He will guide your steps and give you a life you could never imagine. 

 

You can best support our Ministry by sharing these podcast with your friends and family.

 

We also need your financial contributions to make our Ministries a possibility. You can contribute online at https://firstbaptistofindependence.aware3.net/give/

 

If you would like to stay up to date on all things FBC, download our App by clicking here https://a3a.me/firstbaptistofindependence or by Liking our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/1stBaptist/

 

Thank you for listening. We will see you next week.