Do you recall a story told to you in your youth by your parents about their lives, maybe how they met, maybe how your dad proposed to your mom? I recall a story my dad would tell about a childhood friend whose family owned a funeral home and how he and his buddies and his sister played hide and seek in the funeral home—that gives me the heebie-jeebies even today to think of. But I would always say, “Tell me the story again!”
The Jewish people have a celebration; they call it the Festival of Purim. At this festival, which is in the first quarter of the year, they read a story—the same story. They are told the story of how the villain Haman tried to destroy the Jewish people in Persia, but how they were delivered by Almighty God as told in the book of Esther.
It is a great story. There is one part of the story that is most intriguing. Haman, the bad guy, who hated a Jew named Mordecai, had already announced his plot to eliminate all the Jews. One night, the King couldn’t sleep, and instead of getting a warm glass of milk to settle him, he asks to read the history of his reign. He comes across an item in the history about a how a plot to assassinate him was exposed by a Jew named Mordecai, the same guy that Haman hated. Bottom line: Haman is discovered to be the bad guy and he meets with a really bad ending, and Mordecai is made the Prime Minister, and the Jewish people are saved once again. But tell me the story again!
That night the King had trouble sleeping and decided to read awhile. He ordered the historical records of his kingdom from the library, and in them he came across the item telling how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, watchman at the palace gates, who had plotted to assassinate him.
Esther 6:1
Why did the king wake up, and why of all things to look at did he want to read the history scrolls, and then why did he read of the particular event of Mordecai? When the Lord’s people are at risk—when we are at risk, when we are in danger, when we are in despair—the Lord will wake someone up in the middle of the night and have them see something they had not seen before, and it will be the Lord’s way of answering our prayers. There are no coincidences. Tell me the story again!
So today, Lord, we acknowledge You as our Awesome God. There is nothing in our lives that You miss. You know our every thought and our every worry. We give You Glory! We pray that we may be used by You in the way You desire. We are Your servants. Amen.
Have a Storytelling Day.
