Hi Friend,

The story of Queen Esther is a fascinating account of the power that exists within one person to change the course of the world. God chose one young girl, not even a muscled soldier trained for combat, to save an entire nation. It’s hard to be more alone than an orphan—a Jewish waif growing up in a gentile country—a female in a sea of male chauvinists. All this makes her story more intriguing. The enemy came to her. She stood alone, not because of her strength, but because she was there.

Everything in our experience tells us that there is strength in numbers. The larger the army, the better the chance for victory. In almost any sport the rules restrict the number of players either team can have on the field. It simply isn’t fair for one football team to have twelve players and the other to have eleven. But God sent one girl to fight an army aligned against Israel.

Surprising as it may seem, it isn’t unusual. God called Gideon to save Israel from a barbaric enemy. When Gideon raised an army of 32,000 to fight an enemy “like grasshoppers for multitude” God whittled it down to just 300. “The people that are with thee are too many,” God said (Judges 7:2). The people would think it was their power, not God’s that won the battle. Gideon defeated a combined army of Midianites and several other gentile forces.

It’s too easy to write these incidents off as anecdotal, but that would be a serious mistake. Shall we rehearse the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses or a young teen named David who fought the giant Goliath? Let’s understand that history is not written by political parties, nations or even great armies. History is written by individuals with a passion for righteousness.

When Abraham Lincoln came on the political scene, he had only one year of formal schooling. Yet he may be the most profound man of letters the English language has ever seen. Even after he became president, he was ridiculed in political circles because of his backwoods unsophisticated manner.

He did not want a war over slavery. The war came to him. He was brought to a crucial place of history by a providential force. One might say that God brought him there because this one man would not shrink from his duty to conscience. It was Abraham Lincoln’s war. It was his duty to fight for a new birth of freedom in a land that was founded on freedom. And he did.

When Winston Churchill saw an evil menace growing in Europe, he stood alone in a Parliament that railed against him. He was called a “hawk” and a “war-monger” by passive forces of appeasement who hoped that evil would leave if Britain ignored it. But Churchill wouldn’t ignore it and he lost his political influence. His day was past. Yet he never wavered. He alone stood against the senseless tyranny of an evil man. Finally, war came to Britain. And Churchill was recalled to become Prime Minister. World War II was Churchill’s war.

What would have happened if Esther had looked for strength from a church? Mordecai, her uncle, told her that deliverance would come from another source, but “who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

What would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had looked to political polls? Would freedom for all have come to America from another source? God could have used anyone, but whoever he used would have had to stand alone. Maybe, God chose Abraham Lincoln because there was no other man who would stand in the gap.

We can ask the question “what if” about many men such as Lincoln or Churchill. But there is a far more penetrating question. What would have happened if Jesus had not stood alone, to bring the opportunity for salvation to mankind? Even in the spirit realm there is a need for one. When choosing from among those in the Third Heaven, ONE was sent to earth. Not twelve legions.

The man who looks to a political party, or a nation, or an army, to save him has missed the point of life. One man, whose human spirit joins with the Spirit of God, is the most powerful force for good in the world. As God said to Zerubabel, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6)

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien