God Who Does the Impossible!

It is the Jewish Holiday of Purim (celebration of the deliverance from God through Esther). I was told that people read the book of Esther in order to remember it, so I decided to do so tonight. It has been a long time since I have sat down and just read through a book of the Bible... generally, I read a couple chapters and look at them in detail, but it is great to get an overview too! I was surprised at how fast it went. It probably only took 35 minutes or so. There isn't really anything deep as far as theology goes, but what a blessing it is to look at all the ways that God worked everything exactly how He wanted it in order to save His people. To name a few...

1) God causing the previous queen Vashti to not obey the king's commandment.
2) God using Mordecai to take care of Esther after her parents died.
3) God using the wisdom of Mordecai to help Esther win favor in the sight of the king.
4) God granting Esther favor.
5) God using servants to find out what was actually going to happen to the Jewish people.
6) God using Mordecai to influence Esther and give her courage.
7) God granting Esther favor in the eyes of the king when she went before him.
8) God giving Esther wisdom in how to set up the banquets.
9) God causing the king to not be able to sleep and thus finding out that Mordecai was never rewarded for saving the king's life.
10) God causing Haman to walk in at the perfect time in order to be completely humbled by having to honor Mordecai.
11) God giving Esther wisdom in how to break the news to the king about what Haman was doing.
12) God causing the servants of the king to inform him about the gallows that Haman made for Mordecai to make the king even more upset.
13) God granting Mordecai favor in the eyes of the king after Haman was hung on the gallows.
14) God granting Esther favor once again in order to plead for the lives of her people.
15) God granting Mordecai favor and wisdom in developing a plan to protect the Jewish people.
16) God blessing the Jewish people with great victories in defeating those that opposed them... including Haman's sons.

I am confident that I missed some, but wow!!! God's providence is absolutely incredible! It is such a blessing to serve a God who is in complete control. It make me wonder why I doubt His control so much. It's like I haven't seen all throughout His Word that He created everything, and does everything for His good pleasure... and His ways are always best. :) I pray that we can all come away from the story of Esther with a fresh reminder of who God is and what He can and does do.