Esther 6

“That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, ‘What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?’”  Esther 6:1-3 (NKJV)

UCLA basketball coaching legend, John Wooden, had an endearing impact on his players.  Even after his players left to pursue their respective careers, they considered him as much a father as a coach.  One of the unorthodox things that Wooden would do to establish trust was to teach each recruit how to put on their socks and tie their shoes properly.  A simple thing, but it built that sort of father/son relationship and sent the message: “It doesn’t matter what you think you know; I am going to teach you how to play the game from the ground up.”  There is nothing quite like lacing up gym shoes in anticipation of an upcoming sporting event.

Forgive me for trying to make the tying of shoes into a spiritual experience!  But the whole process of tying shoes is a good analogy for the Book of Esther because lacing shoes takes mental effort that subconsciously anticipates the struggle that is about to take place in the sporting world.  The threads of Esther’s story are interwoven, much like gym shoes – the laces that (at the beginning) seem to work at cross purposes to each other are finally revealed to be drawn up together.  The author of the Book of Esther is weaving the laces of the story together in such a nonchalant way that we are almost surprised when things begin to cinch tightly together.

When seemingly unrelated or opposing agendas suddenly cinch together to accomplish God’s will, that’s called “Providence.”  It means that God is working from an elevated perspective, viewing the big picture in ways that are impossible for us to perceive.  Here on earth, at the pedestrian level, we can only see from a very limited perspective.  That means we must trust that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present and that His character never changes.

In today’s passage, we feel the laces cinch together in a way that nobody could have predicted.  We can only read today’s chapter and praise the Lord for doing something only He could accomplish.  He awoke the king in the middle of the night and gave him a strong desire to read the records of the daily journal, where the king discovered Mordecai was never honored or appreciated for his heroic and patriotic act.

Do the circumstances of your life seem loose, contradictory, and randomly unrelated?  God causes all things to work together, to literally cinch up like shoelaces, for the good of everybody who loves Him and is called, according to His purpose.  (Romans 8:28)