The Purim story has so many layers and themes, but one of them always stands out for me: God’s hand in the events.
Have you ever wondered why you ended up in a certain place at a certain time? You’re there and suddenly something amazing happens. You go somewhere or do something, and some synchronistic event occurs.
Did you ever look back over your life and think, “Wow, if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here now. And If Iweren’t here now, I would have missed this opportunity or experience.” In other words, your life experiences and choices and events brought you to a moment in time when everything from the past simply fell into place to create something new and perfect–almost as if someone had choreographed the events.
Someone recently told me a story about a man working on a screenplay about a musician. He went to lunch somewhere and who should walk in but that musician. He asked to sit down at the man’s table and told him about his project. The musician loved the idea and not is not only helping in any way he can to make the project a reality but he has become good friends with the screenplay writer. What brought them both together on that day at that time?
In the Purim story, what brought Esther, otherwise known as Hadassah (her Hebrew name), into the life of King Ahasuerus at just the time when she could use her influence as his queen to save her people, the Jews, from destruction? What brought her cousin, Mordechai, to the castle gates just when he could overhear a plot to kill the king?
Is it just coincidence that these things happen? I think not. I think that God’s hand is at work in our lives all the time. On Purim, we can see exactly how this works by studying the story we recount on this holiday. The rest of the time, we must search for signs of God’s hand…small synchronicities, little miracles, odd happenings, a sense of being in the right place at the right time, events falling together as if by magic. Or maybe we have to step back and take a good long look at our lives and see how God’s hand has gently directed us to this place and this time.
If God has a hand in our lives, does that mean we have no say over what happens? Again, I think not. I see God as the Ultimate Director, who has co-authored the screenplay of our lives in conjunction with us. He/She then allows us to act out our part and to improvise as much as we like. We can even rewrite the part as we go along, but the end cannot be changed. We may not get to the end as quickly as the original script had planned, or we might get there more quickly…it all depends on how we act our our role and the choices we make while we do so. (Remember, we were all given free will, the ability to make choices.) In this way, we and God co-create the whole production. But like a good director, when our lives need a little help or direction, a strong hand comes to our aid.
We may not always see that support or assistance. When things feel and look tough, we may think God’s hand is actually absent from our lives. However, God may actually be directing us through that tough time to get to something on the other side. With hindsight, we might understand why we had to go through that experience to get to the place we now find ourselves. While in it, we have to have faith and trust that we are still following the script and the director is still watching.
Knowing that God has a hand in my life gives me great comfort. While for some, the idea that some of life is “preordained” is unsettling, to say the least, I like knowing that God and I came up with a plan prior to me entering this physical body. And I like knowing that even though I sometimes feel alone as I move through my life, even though I sometimes feel like I’m wandering lost and without a map, God knows where I’m going and reaches out to make sure I’m heading in the right direction. At these times,  I think of God’s hand like a life navigation system. I like knowing someone has a compass when I don’t, and that someone is steering the ship when I can’t or don’t know how or don’t know which way to turn.
Yes, God’s hand is in our lives everyday. On Purim I’m reminded of that fact.
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