Is God Absent?

I've been assigned to teach the Old Testament book of Esther for a seminar at the Cove (which will be over by the time you read this).

Esther is an interesting book and the more I study it, the more I like it. One of the most interesting things about the book of Esther is that it is the only book in the Bible where the name of God is never mentioned.. .not even once.

Makes me wonder if the Graham people at the Cove were making a statement. They were probably sitting around and discussing who in the world should teach Esther. Someone said, "We've got to find someone to teach this book. It's going to be hard because it's as close to a pagan book as we have in the Bible."

"Hey, I know," someone said. "Let's ask Steve. He's about as close as we've got to a pagan in the church."

They all agreed that it was a brilliant idea and a good match. But, aside from my paranoia, let me tell you some things about Esther that I really like.

First, not only is God not mentioned in the book, there is no prayer, no reference to Scripture, no worship, no condemnation of sin, no lifting up of the moral standards of the law and no indication that the actions of the leading character, Esther, who seduced the king before marriage, are wrong.

You like that? Maybe the Graham people were right!

The thing I like about this book is that God works through some very sinful and flawed people to do some amazing and wonderful things. Even when they weren't doing what they ought to do, they were still His people and, because they were, were never forgotten and rejected by Him. And, not only that, He used them to change the course of history. How about that, sports fans?

A few years ago, I read a biography on Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the Four Square Churches. I suspect the biographer was a twit. I suspect that his work was an expose of her life and ministry and, not only that, I think the writer of the biography delighted in digging up the dirt and exposing committed people as frauds.

What the writer didn't know is that God beat him to it!

Can we talk? Trust me on this. You don't want to talk about our family at a formal gathering of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Moses was a murderer and, even after being called by God in an amazing and supernatural way, was not zealous to serve Him. Abraham pawned his wife off as his sister so that Pharaoh would have his way with her. The whole institution of the covenant people of God (by the way, people God called "stiff-necked" and rebellious) in the Old and New Testament is built upon a con-artist who lied to get this whole thing going. And then there was David and Bathsheba, Jeremiah and his whining, and the prophets who didn't want to serve.

Paul called Peter a hypocrite (and that was long after Peter had become the leader of the church). Paul himself was in a major church fight with Barnabas. The first assistant missionary bishop of the church and the writer of a book named after him, John Mark, couldn't cut it on the field and fled in the middle of the night. There was a prostitute in the genealogy of Jesus and the people with whom He hung out were not much better. Jesus was, after all, a friend of wine-bibbers and sinners. Do you get the feeling that God is trying to tell us something? I don't know about you, but let me tell you what God is telling me.

Erik, the producer of our radio broadcasts, told me the other day how glad he was to be a part of Key Life and to see God work through our ministry. Then, almost as an afterthought, he asked me, "Steve, do you ever find yourself surprised at what you're doing? Like wondering why you aren't repairing bicycles?" "Yeah,' I said. And then, because I was studying Esther, I said, "Not only that, it is insane that I should be doing what I'm doing. If I were God, I would be the last one I would choose to do this. But God didn't have a choice between good, pure and obedient people---and sinners. All He had were sinners."

Let me tell you something else that I've learned in my study of Esther.

Karen Jobes, a teacher at Westminster Seminary and whose work in Esther is superb, said it this way: "God is most omnipotently present when He is most conspicuously absent."

In other words, God doesn't just visit worship services and Bible studies. He visits the battlefield in Iraq, a strip-joint in Atlanta where a friend of mine is reaching out in Christ's name to the strippers, and in the gay community where my friends at Harvest USA (a ministry to homosexuals) are caring enough to be compassionate, loving and honest. And, in your life and mine when we think He doesn't care and that He has gone away and has left us alone.

God's presence is everywhere with His people. He's there when we aren't following Him too closely when we think that everything has fallen apart, and when we aren't even thinking about Him. He is there-caring, loving, forgiving, redeeming and (can you believe this?) changing us into the image of Christ, using us to reach out to a world that desperately needs to hear from those who know He's there even when it doesn't feel like it.

Oh, and one other thing I've learned from Esther: God likes to party and, when you party you don't have to make it a "religious" party either.

It's a very long story with a happy ending. In the book of Esther, God protects His people, kills off the bad guys and then calls for a celebration.

In the 9th chapter of Esther, Mordecai institutes a yearly party celebrating what God has done (Esther 9: 20-22,28). In other words, God said to the Jews something not dissimilar to what Jesus told us in His Last Supper: "Remember... and be glad,'

He knows you-all your secrets and secret sins, all your fears, all your insecurities, pain and failures-and He still wants to use you to glorify His Name in the world through you. Not only that, He has promised that He will always love you and never leave you or forsake you. Even when you don't think He's there. He is most omnipotently present when you think He is most conspicuously absent.

Now go and celebrate with a party! A party? That doesn't sound very religious. I know but He told me to tell you that it was okay!

If you're interested, there is more information about:
The most important event of all time and
The most important Book of all time.

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2004 Key Life Network. Today's Daily Wisdom is by Steve Brown. Steve's daily broadcasts are heard on Christian radio stations nationwide through Key Life Network. For information on a station near you go to www.keylife.org. "Is God Absent" was edited and adapted with permission by Keith Todd who is moderator of the Sermon Fodder List which offers Christian humor and modern day parables for enjoyment and for use as sermon illustration material. To subscribe drop a note to: Sermon_Fodder-subscribe@onelist.com