That night the king had trouble sleeping and decided to read awhile. Esther 6:1
How God Stoops Down Into Our Ordinary
It was 5 a.m.—time to meet God at my kitchen table before I got the kids up for school. Worn and battered, I knelt on a chair pouring out my heart. With puffy, red eyes I stared at the ceiling because that’s where I felt my prayers stopped. My eyes rested on a dangling recessed light, damaged from a toilet leak upstairs, and I heard a voice in my spirit.
“Child, this light is broken, but it can still be used. I prefer to use broken things for My purpose. It is in your brokenness that my Glory is revealed.”
God came into my Everyday that morning. That’s His way.
His way is to step into our Ordinary when we can’t sleep, like in the book of Esther.
King Xerxes’ Prime Minister, Haman, had already convinced the king to exterminate the Jewish people and had erected a gallows to hang Mordecai, Queen Esther’s cousin and foster father.
But in Esther 6:1, the Creator of the universe intervenes.
“That night the king had trouble sleeping and decided to read awhile . . .”
The king ordered the historical records of his kingdom to fight his insomnia, and it just so happened he discovered how Mordecai had exposed an assassination plot engineered by two palace guards.
In gratitude, the king honored Mordecai. And through Esther, God thwarted Haman’s plan to extinguish all Jews in the Persian empire.
History changed. All because one night God stooped down into a pagan king’s bedroom.
That’s just like God.
When Paul’s boat tore apart in a storm on the way to Rome and powerful waves choked his hope for survival, God descended into the cold, churning water and provided a single plank for His servant to cling to.
God showed up in the Everyday when Pharaoh’s daughter saw a basket floating in the reeds of the Nile. He stepped in and pulled on the princess’s heartstrings to have mercy on the Hebrew baby boy marked for death.
Moses was saved, not because anyone was fooled, but because a sovereign God was at work down low on the banks of a river.
Be on the lookout for how the God of the universe shows up and whispers encouragement into the down-low of your Ordinary. Through a bumper sticker in the carpool line, through a random kiss from your teenager, or a random act of kindness from a stranger.
God showed up during my 5 a.m. prayers and spoke love to me because of a broken light fixture. Look for Him to meet you in the middle of your Ordinary.
That’s just like God. It’s rarely spectacular, but it’s always breathtaking.
Jesus’ Message:
I continuously speak to you and reach down to work in your Everyday. Sometimes you are too busy or self-absorbed to hear me.
If you want to observe the ways I move in your life, you must abide in Me. Your spirit must always be attuned to Me.
Sometimes you may only be able to see my methods by looking back—at how I closed that door or said no to your request.
Looking back, attuned to My Spirit, you will be able to thank me for unanswered prayers or for that broken road that led you to something better.
Come sit with Me and meditate on your past, with its messiness and missteps, surprises and successes.
You will come to understand how often I have come down into your Ordinary and saved your life with one delayed traffic signal. Or changed the course of your life with one chance meeting because you suddenly craved a cappuccino at Starbucks.
Gratitude is one way to draw close to Me. Practice thankfulness as you go about your day, and watch for Me in expectation—as you wade through the wet laundry or that dry report.
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