In this Q&A, Lynn Cowell (@lynncowell) and Amy Carroll (@amydohmcarroll) talk about their new Bible study book in the InScribed series, Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World (HarperChristian Resources, 2022).
Why did you write a study on the book of Esther?
Lynn: It’s funny; this Esther Bible study came out of a pile of rejection letters! But that’s not really where the story began. The beginning took place several years ago in our everyday friend conversations. Amy began sharing a process she was learning and writing about: listen, feel, do, speak. It’s a process she began with the Lord when working through the uncertainties of her life. I think Amy thought it was an “Amy process” and I think I did too. But one day, while reading my Bible, I saw this process being played out in the life of one of the characters in my Bible. It was right there in the life of Esther. I couldn’t wait to tell Amy! The process God gave Amy he didn’t just give Amy. It’s a process his people have been going through all throughout the Bible. In fact, recently I was thrilled to find this process again, played out in Acts 10 in the story of Peter, Cornelius and the gospel being available to all people.
Listen, feel, do, speak isn’t just an Amy thing. It’s an all of us thing; a practice we can develop as we learn new things about and with God as we face uncertainties.
Esther is one of two books in the Bible where God’s name is never mentioned (Song of Songs is the other one). How might it have seemed he had vanished to the people in that book?
Amy: Esther takes place following the Jewish exile from Israel. Some of the exiles had begun to return home to rebuild, but Esther’s community in Persia, under the rule of King Xerxes, hadn’t returned yet.
The book of Esther doesn’t name God or reveal the motives of the people involved, but I wonder if they believed some untruths about God based on their circumstances. After all, they were human just like us (we forget that sometimes!).
We can begin to believe God has vanished when:
- The consequences of our sin catch up to us.
- We’re removed from all that’s comfortable.
- We can’t hear his voice or sense his presence.
- Threats are coming from all directions, and there’s no rescue yet in sight.
All of those circumstances that can be true in our lives had come to pass in the lives of Esther’s community, and they all add up to a mound of uncertainty. In uncertain times, it can seem that God has vanished.
The truth that we have to cling to during times of uncertainty is that God is there. Even when we can’t hear his voice or feel his presence, God says that he never leaves us. He never forsakes us (Deut. 31:6). He was there in Persia when the king was threatening to annihilate the Jews, and he’s here with us. Our invisible God isn’t hiding. But sometimes he’s standing in our blind spot, beckoning us to watch for the effects of his hand.
Esther didn’t have a choice when she was thrown into the commanded competition of the king, yet she did have a choice on whether or not to become a difference-maker. She was living in an environment that would have felt foreign: the king’s palace. What initial steps did Esther take to put herself in a place to become a difference-maker?
Lynn: Esther became a listener. She consulted and listened to someone who knew what she needed to know.
Before her big night, Esther 2:13 says each woman “was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.” So the wisdom each woman needed fell on her; a girl or young woman who had lived a maximum of one year in an environment completely foreign to the majority of them. Esther understood that she didn’t know what she needed to know.
She wisely chose to get close to Hegai, the keeper of the women in the palace. Her action in asking for advice said, “I don’t know what I need to know. You do. Teach me. Direct me. Guide me.”
It takes humility to admit “I don’t know what I need to know” and humility is the best place to begin if we hope to impact our world.
What process did Esther go through that helped her to not only hang in there but to actually become a person of influence when her life was so uncertain?
Amy: Esther went through this process: Listen → Feel → Do → Speak. As Lynn said, she listened to Hegai for wisdom. Then, instead of standing aloof or protecting herself, she felt the grief of her people as they faced destruction. Once her heart was connected to God’s in that grief, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing. At the risk of her own life, she stepped up to intervene with the king. Finally, she used her voice to change the fate of her people. She spoke up boldly at just the right time. Even though supernatural miracles are absent in her story, Esther’s obedience joined with God’s providence was the miracle!
These are the same steps we can take, and they’re amazing steps.
- We listen to God and those around us.
- We let pain point us to the problems that are on God’s heart.
- Then we act, converting our time and resources into righteous doing.
- Finally, we speak up for the people and issues on God’s heart. We’ve earned the right to do it through the steps we’ve taken, so our voices are powerful.
These four steps shift us from uncertainty to influence in our world. Our world needs everyday people who cling to God even when everything is shaken. These are the influencers/difference-makers who are needed!
What purpose might God have for allowing uncertainty in our lives?
Lynn: God is our Good Shepherd and Faithful Father and he wants us to know him intimately as both. Uncertainties give us the opportunity for this relationship to go deeper in knowing him this way. When our plans fail or we can’t discern our next step, can can to the end of us so that this relationship of dependence can flourish in the best possible way. Uncertainty can cause us to be vulnerable; in the space where we experience God even when we can’t see him.
When I’m in the space of uncertainty, one of my favorite tools is to rehearse the faithfulness of God. I literally write out in my journal the times I remember when God came through for me, answering my prayers and even taking care of things for me before I even knew there was something to be concerned about.
I wonder if Esther could have employed this same practice of rehearsing the faithfulness of God. As a Hebrew, she would have grown up hearing the story of Joseph. In fact, her story mirrors his closely. Going through Joseph’s story, we see God was with Joseph at every turn. Possibly Esther used this story in her family’s history to fuel her own faith just as I do my stories of God’s faithfulness.
How did Esther handle God’s seeming absence (silence and lack of miracles)?
Amy: Esther didn’t tackle her circumstances by herself. Wisely, she drew her community close. Esther 4:15-16 says, “Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ‘Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’”
Fasting is the way the community came together to seek God’s guidance and protection. It’s an often-overlooked weapon today, but it’s one we should revisit. When uncertainty strikes and the obstacles seem too steep to overcome, fasting in community is a powerful tool outlined in both the Old and New Testaments.
Why would we overlook such a gift? I’m realizing that my well-fed ways often leave spiritual starvation! Studying Esther has given me a renewed passion for adding fasting back into my own spiritual disciplines.
How do we prepare ahead of time for periods of God’s silence?
Lynn: I know for me, when I feel like God is silent, I can be caught off guard; like I didn’t know it was coming. Yet if we read our Bibles, we can know that silence is coming. From accounts in the Bible, we can see God’s silence at times is normal. The Israelites, God’s people, between the Old Testament and New Testament times experienced hundreds of years of silence. God had given his Word, but he wasn’t saying anything new. Jesus, as he hung on the cross, experienced God’s silence. Today, those in prison for their faith or the mom dropping in exhaustion into bed may all experience what feels like God’s silence.
I believe this is one reason God has, in his wisdom, given us the directive to hide his word in our hearts in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Maybe the sin the writer is referring to is the sin of giving up believing when God’s not speaking. Having his word hidden in our heart can be the words we need to hear when it feels as though God is silent. Like when my father was dying. God’s word had already told me, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Even though my heart was broken, I could count on his truth.
There are some passages in Esther that have caused a lot of theological dispute. Tell us about one of those.
Amy: It was amazing to me to reread Esther for the first time in a long time. When you read it like it’s new, it’s a very gritty book, full of imperfect people and dubious motivations. In fact, many of the early church fathers didn’t like the book of Esther because of its sex and violence. Martin Luther famously said, “I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees, and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all, for they have too many heathen unnaturalities.”
In our modern times, we’ve absorbed a sanitized version of Esther. Her story has been washed in spiritual Clorox by Hollywood, animations, and those who refer to it as a “beauty contest.”
Lynn and I really dug in, studying the text itself and what many respected commentators had to say. Myriads of controversies swirling around the character’s motives and actions. I was fascinated that Vashti’s motivation in refusing to come during the banquet was one that reputable commentators disagreed on. I share my own opinion in the study. (Spoiler alert: I’m on Queen Vashti’s side!)
Lynn and I concluded that it’s immensely unhealthy to sanitize Scripture, and doing so says more about our desires than God’s truth. When we push past the messiness of humanity in Scripture, we may come away with what we want but miss what we truly need.
How can uncertainty counter-intuitively become a superpower when we’re studying our Bibles?
Lynn: I think many of us have been taught to never question God, but I think that if we read our Bible, asking questions as we go, it can empower us to dig below the surface. If we read, looking for things that appear odd, out of place, or even out of the question, we can then begin to look for the hand of God even where his name is not mentioned or his hand is not overtly obvious, as it is in the book of Esther.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App and Bible Audio App?
Amy: I use Bible Gateway almost everyday. It’s so easy to use for word searches, and I love the extra resources when I’m researching. My favorite use is comparing different translations of the same verse. Reading a passage in fresh language often helps me see it in a whole new way. Bible Gateway is one of my favorite resources for Bible study!
BIO: Lynn Cowell is a part of the Proverbs 31 Ministries speaking team, speaking to pre-teens, teens, multi-generational and women’s conferences and retreats on a regular basis. In addition to speaking on the national level, Lynn reaches many through her writing as an author of three books, blogger, and devotion writer. As a regular contributor for the Proverbs 31 Ministries’ daily devotions, Encouragement for Today, her devotions reach an audience of over 800,000 subscribers. She has been a regular contributor for The Whatever Girls and The Mom Initiative. Lynn and her husband, Greg, of 30 years, are the parents of three young adults and reside in North Carolina.
Amy Carroll is a speaker and writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries and the author of Exhale and Breaking Up with Perfect. She’s a woman who loves great stories and challenging ideas, so co-hosting the Grit ‘n’ Grace podcast has also become one of her favorite things.
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