We assume that God only shows up in the clean and prIstine places. We hesitate to believe that God doesn’t need us to come up with some solutions for our problems before He begins to work. But from the beginning of creation, we encounter a God who does not wait for us to fix ourselves before He begins His saving work. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of a God who works in broken places.

When we read a chapter like Esther 2, we realize that even amidst the most unexpected places, God was actively at work. One key truth we can take away from these passages is that while our world is more broken than we often realize, God’s sovereignty is even greater than we imagine. We may not see all the reasons why or understand in fullness, but we know that even in the midst of all these circumstances, God was moving even still.

It was Esther, an orphan and an exile, who was chosen to stand in the throne room with a crown on her head. And unbeknownst to her, God was at work. Years later, when the empire would make a decision to annihilate every Jew in every province, it was this woman, who would be the one God would use to could speak to the king to save His people. God’s hand was orchestrating even the most painful and broken places.

Maybe there is a place in your story that you would not have chosen. A place you have never told anyone about. A place you assume is too contaminated for God to use, too compromised to be redeemed, too far gone to be part of a story He is writing. But the beautiful truth about the gospel, is that no matter where you find yourself today, God meets you in all those broken places and graciously works even in all the confusing and painful circumstances of your life. Trust the sovereign Lord.