Silent Sovereignty: Finding God’s Hand in the Shadows of Life’s Tragedies

The recent past stands with its hand waving to ask a question. Where is God when we need him?

In Gaza and Israel, a terrorist vendetta by the group Hamas started a terrifying set of events. To date, over 8500 men, women, and children have died at the hands of bombs.

In Lewiston, Maine, a madman gunned down 18 in a bowling alley. No satisfying answer to such violence comes.

There is only one question. Where is God amid a world tearing itself apart at the seams?

Ask someone else, a young woman who became queen in another grisly era.

Esther is a Bible book unique among all others. It is the story of a Jewish girl who becomes queen and is a catalyst to stop a holocaust of the Jewish people.

What is unique is it never mentions God by name.

The Book of Esther unfolds in the opulent courts of ancient Persia. The palace bleeds intrigue, and the raw lust for power takes center stage.

While God is silent, his fingerprints smudge the entire story.

The story of Esther teaches us a profound truth: God continues to work, even when He remains unspoken, unseen, and seemingly absent.

Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai, rises to become queen of Persia. Her ascent seems like a stroke of luck or a twist of fate. Divine appointment, not coincidence, puts the crown on her head. Esther’s courage and wisdom become pivotal in thwarting a plot to annihilate the Jewish people.

Her cousin Mordecai uncovers an assassination plot against the king. His deed goes unnoticed and unrewarded. But through a sleepless night, you see God’s hand as the king reads it in his annals.

Haman is the Persian villain of the story, seeking to exterminate the Jews. With great glee, he erects a gallows he plans to use against Mordecai. Yet, in the end, Haman swings from the rope, and God’s people remain.

We see an oft-seen pattern in life. God turns the evil intentions of men against them to bring about His good purposes.

Throughout Esther, we observe the “invisible hand” of God. This hand guides events, turns the tide in critical moments, and ensures the survival and triumph of His people. The book challenges us to see God’s providence not just in miraculous interventions but in the everyday workings of life, in coincidences and happenstance, in the unexpected and unexplained.

When God seems absent, he remains at work in the mundane and magnificent—weaving together events and decisions for purposes that become clear only in retrospect.

It takes faith to believe God because we don’t witness his work but see his accomplishments scattered through the ages.

We will never understand what drove an Army reservist to open fire on innocents or what evil impulse took hostage dozens in Gaza. All we can do is believe the Lord has a plan we neither see nor understand.

The Book of Esther is a testament to the silent sovereignty of God. His workings might be invisible to our immediate gaze but are unmistakable upon reflection. Trust in God’s unseen governance, look for His hand in the complexities of our lives and rest in the assurance that even when He is silent.

He is never inactive.