Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day. The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Genocide is a horrible atrocity and Haman was a very evil man. As well, King Xerxes was a man of great power but weak in his resolve for justice. Together, they presided over a horrible time in the history of the Jews.

The Jews were outnumbered, they were out-weaponed, and they were surrounded by those who intended ill on them. But they were not without hope! So they fasted, they put on sackcloth and ashes, they wailed in the streets. They called on God to come to their aid. Little did they know, God had already been putting the wheels in motion of a resounding victory over Haman and his evil followers.

There are times in this life when all of the walls seem to close in on us as Christ-followers. We are “hard-pressed”, “perplexed”, “discouraged”, and “beaten down”. (II Corinthians 4:8-9) It seems as if all we have worked for is over, our dreams for our children or family are crushed. But just like the Jews, we are not hopeless. We have the God of the Universe on our side. Maybe he already has the wheels moving and we just don’t see it yet?

Lord, thank you for your truth, your faithfulness, your power, and your love! I rest in these things when the future seems uncertain. You are working your plan in the uncertainty … you are always working for our good! I praise you in the storm and I praise you on the mountain top!