Esther 9

I wonder about the King of Persia. He was king of a heathen land, with a large number of Jewish exiles living in his territory. I’m not sure what gods (or how many) he worshiped, but it’s safe to say that he did not worship the God of Israel. Yet, when the plot of Haman was uncovered, he was willing to stick his neck out for this race of people who were foreigners in his land:

"On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them." (vs 1-2)

Was it just for the love of a woman that the king supported the Jews? Perhaps. And maybe he was also grateful for the intervention of Mordecai that saved his life. Whatever his motives, the Jews were only able to stand against their enemies because of the king.

And that made me think about the King who is for us. Paul writes about this in his famous passage from Romans 8: "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Rom 8:31-32)

No matter what we face in life, we can stand up to all our enemies because God is for us. That includes all enemies in this life: trouble, hardship, unexpected crisis, our past, our present, our future, even death itself. In all these things, we can be more than conquerors through God who loves us. Nothing can separate us from His love and care!

God is for us. Because of that, we know that even when our enemies look fierce and overwhelming, we are more than able to stand. In Christ, we can find victory over any and all of our enemies!