God is working, too

When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry. Esther 4:1

Mordecai, Queen Esther's cousin and adopted father, was distressed because an unalterable law had been passed that would mean the utter destruction of the Jewish race. It seems to me, especially when it comes to politics, that we often tend to look at policies we oppose in the worst possible light and make them out to be worse than they really are. But in this case, this was about as bad as it could get for God's chosen people. The political powers had destined them to death.

And yet, even at that moment, God had so orchestrated things that deliverance and relief would be granted Israel. For Esther was queen, and she had been put there in the providence of God for just such a time (4:14). In fact, as the rest of this little story goes on to show, not only did the Jews get deliverance, but the enemies of Israel would themselves be destroyed. What looked like the annihilation of Israel only served in the end to advance the cause of God and truth.

Brothers and sisters, in these uncertain times, let us remember this. When you hear bad news, news that is bad for the church, news that tells us of further cultural capitulation to immorality and godlessness, news that makes you want to cry "with a loud and bitter cry," don't lose hope. The gates of hell will never prevail against the church (Mt. 16:18). It is true that the devil may be busy, but so is heaven, and greater is he that is for us than he that is in the world.