So, how did God’s people escape from the trap Haman laid for them? Yes, Esther’s pluck deserves some of the credit. Even though she was the Queen, she took her life into her hands by going into the presence of the King without an appointment (Esther 4:11). And we can admire her wisdom, knowing her husband well enough to fill him up with rich food and wine – not once but twice – before revealing her identity as a Jew and begging for all of their lives (Esther 7:3-4).

But we can also see how God was working behind the scenes to bring about His people’s salvation. After all, the first thing Esther did was to ask all the Jews in the capital city to fast and pray for her for three days before she went to talk to the King (Esther 4:16). That’s because she knew that only God could give her favor in the sight of the King.

And think about all the marvelous coincidences that had to come together for God’s people to be saved. The King just happened to have insomnia on the night after Esther’s first banquet, and he just happened to read about Mordecai’s faithful service (Esther 6:1-2). And Haman just happened to be standing in the court when the King impulsively decided to honor Mordecai (Esther 6:4-6). So, even though Haman had come to the palace to ask that Mordecai be hanged, Haman ended up honoring Mordecai in exactly the way that Haman had wanted to be honored by the King (Esther 6:11).

No, even Haman’s unbelieving friends and wife could see that all these things that happened by “chance” pointed in one direction – Haman’s doom (Esther 6:13). And sure enough, the King just happened to come back into the banquet hall while Haman was begging Esther for his life, and the King just happened to think that Haman was attacking the Queen (Esther 7:8). So Haman just happened to be hanged on the gallows that he had erected for Mordecai’s execution (Esther 7:7-8).

So, sure, we all need to do the best we can, even in the face of the most desperate situations. But at the same time, we must rely on God to accomplish His good and perfect will – even in ways we could not imagine to be possible. For nothing is too hard for our God.

Esther 6:1-13 (NASB)

During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
2 And it was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
3 And the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.
5 And the king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”
6 So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?”
7 Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor,
8 let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed;
9 and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.'”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.”
11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.”
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered.
13 And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”