God is God and You Are Not

The story of queen Esther - the Jew turned Queen of Persia, is one I have always found quite remarkable (you would find the story in the bible book of Esther).

Throughout the whole reality-TV-type drama, (the first scene with the gals all lined up hoping to be selected queen, an ancient episode of The Bachelor, perhaps?), Queen Esther remained focused and clear.

 

Theres certainly a lot we can learn from her that will guide us as we navigate our own life circumstances, whether dire or humdrum.

Following are some helpful lessons we can glean from Esther’s life.  

 

Remember God is God and you are not.  

When stuck in the muck of less-than-lovely circumstances, our first — and sometimes only — aim is to get ourselves out, and fast. With this line of thinking permeating our action plans, we can readily forget that we are not the ones in charge. Without a proper perspective, we face frustration. We try our level best to modify the circumstances, but we can’t always get people to change their minds to our liking. We can’t shoo away the sickness or ward off the altercation. But we should, like Esther, learn our place. We are human, not deity.
When we even subconsciously think we can control the situation and the outcome but fall short, we may succumb to situational depression. We must remember that God is God and we are not. We must look to Him for our role in the scenario being played out. How should we respond? What should we do? How should we pray? We must not, however, attempt to take his job away from him. That choice never ends well.

Pray, and if you must, fast. 
Queen Esther, though a royal family member, didn’t just proceed with the recommended plan; she sought after God. Before leaping into action, she paused. A three-day fast gave her time to draw near to God and sense His assessment of the sticky situation at hand. Should she have decided on her own in a blink and not in a God-bathed response, she might have made a misstep. But because she sought God first, she was infused with His direction and ready to take the right steps that would lead to a resolution of the looming doom.
So pray before you act, and fast from food if God calls you to (check with a medical professional if there are conditions that would make this unwise for you). You may also fast from other things — like talking on the phone (in a gossipy way) about the people involved in the situation, or from the Internet or TV — so you can devote the time to prayer and Bible reading instead. 

Solicit spiritual help. 
Esther realized she wasn’t a Lone Ranger believer. She sought help. Her fast was a group effort. Her maidservants joined her.
So did the other Jews in her homeland of Persia. She knew that this challenge she faced required a call out to the troops for backup reinforcement. 
Our friends who follow hard after God are invaluable allies. Surround yourself with at least a few — and sometimes a slew — who will thunder Heaven on your behalf, begging God to move. Caution: Don’t just pick a sympathetic friend who will give you an “oh, poor baby” and take your side. Straight shooters are best — those who love you enough to tell you when they sense you’re being selfish or unreasonable. My accountability partner, Mary, has given me a spiritual whoopin’ more than one time, snapping me back to reality and enabling me to make God-glorifying choices.
 
Do what you can. 
Nothing is wrong with action. Sure, look into options and explore the possibility of doing something, but never without taking the spiritual steps already mentioned. If after praying, seeking God, and soliciting wise counsel, you feel some action is needed, it’s okay to move ahead. Esther did. Where you can get yourself (and your emotions) in a tangled-up mess is when you act before you pray. Leap before you look. Cart before the horse in a race to your own coveted finish. Yes, do what you can — prayerfully and carefully — but leave the results to God. Your job is obedience. God’s job is results. 

Don’t do what you can’t. 
Realize the non-negotiables of circumstances. If you can’t possibly make a sickness flee or a loved one stop her destructive behavior, don’t waste precious energy spinning your wheels trying. Likewise, don’t allow your mind to burn up time dwelling on the can’ts of your circumstances. If you can’t change something, drop it and move on. 

Decide where to glance and where to gaze. 
Esther kept her focus and her eyes fixed on her God and not on her circumstances. When your spin7ning-out-of-control situation permeates your days, it’s easy to let it divert your attention,

and your eyes off Jesus and allow them to become fixated on the problems at hand. That emphasis is all wrong. As author Mary Southerland, a cyberfriend of mine, said in a recent online Bible study, “Trusting God demands that we learn to fix our gaze on Him and our glance on our circumstances.”  

 

Know when to move and when to stay put.  

 

At times we see Esther moving forward decisively. Other times she idled, taking no evident outward action. In our make-it-happen culture, it feels very foreign to embrace inaction while waiting for God’s timing. That’s why you must walk so closely with the King that you know both when He is calling you to quietly trust as He works behind the scenes and when He is cueing you to make a move. The world screams, “Well, don’t just stand there; do something!” However, sometimes our does-things-differently Creator whispers, “Well, don’t just do something... stand there.”  

 

Whether your life contains life-altering crises, out-of-control circumstances, or relatively normal bumps and blips, you must nestle yourself neatly and surrendered into the spot God has reserved for you in it all.  

 

You can’t always change your circumstances.

You can change your attitude. 
 

You shouldn’t seek to micromanage.  

You should seek to trust God.  

 

Instead of longing for God to change the trajectory of your life’s story line, look for His face as you practice your faith at each twist and turn along the way.  

 

No, you can’t change the weather. But you can grab an umbrella.  

 

Lord, may I willingly snuggle up next to you under Your wide umbrella of grace and growth in the everyday mists of life and — even more closely — during those times when it thunders and pours. Amen.  

Excerpted from Let It Go by Karen Ehman, copyright Karen Ehman.