The plans of God are often left unseen until the story comes to a close, or the chapter ends. The divine nature of our creator knows that if we could see the ending from the beginning we would try in our own strength and strategies to get to the end goal as fast as possible.

But God in His infinite wisdom uses the journey to teach us, refine us, and promote us. Advance is a verb. It is defined by dictionary.com as to move forward, proceed, to bring into consideration or notice, suggest, propose.

Haman received advancement in King Xerxes’ kingdom. He was placed above all the officials. The King commanded his servants and those at the king’s gate to bow down to Haman, but Mordecai would not. When questioned Mordecai told those who inquired that he would not bow because he was a Jew. This news got back to Haman. Haman sought to destroy all the Jewish people throughout King Xerxes’ kingdom.

Haman used his position to influence the king’s thoughts about the Jewish people, and the result was an edict that went out saying that all Jewish people in King Xerxes’ kingdom will be put to death.

God in His sovereignty had a plan. His desire has always been for His people, but sometimes I believe God uses distressing situations to draw us back to Him. His desire being that our hearts are aligned with His.

Esther 3