He Shall Direct Thy Paths

The introduction to this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson says this: “Many events in the book of Esther might seem like luck or coincidence. How else do you explain how an orphaned Jewish girl became the queen of Persia at just the right time to save her people from slaughter? What are the chances that Esther’s cousin Mordecai would happen to overhear a plot to assassinate the king? Were these coincidences, or were they part of a divine plan?” It then quotes Elder Rasband who said this, “What may appear to be a random chance is, in fact, overseen by a loving Father in Heaven. … The Lord is in the small details of our lives.” Indeed, one of the messages of the book of Esther is that the Lord will put us where He wants us. Reading her and Mordecai’s story should help us believe that the Lord has a purpose for us too in our own lives, that we “are come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” I distinctly remember a moment on my mission when it felt like we were wandering the streets because everything had fallen through that day and we didn’t quite know what to do. Right then I felt that reassurance of the Spirit that I was where the Lord wanted me to be doing what He wanted me to be doing. Even though that particular day may have seemed like a waste, I was where I supposed to be. The manual also quotes President Uchtdorf who taught that each of us “stands at a unique place and has an important task that only [we] can perform. … The Lord gave you your responsibilities for a reason. There may be people and hearts only you can reach and touch. Perhaps no one else could do it in quite the same way.” We each have a unique work to do to help His children, and as I felt on my mission, He has a place He wants each of us to make a difference among them. If we have tried to follow His Spirit in our decisions in our lives, we must believe that where we are at is not a coincidence—there is a reason He led us to where we are at.   

            The story of how Mordecai’s life was saved is one account in the book of Esther that highlights that the Lord will put us where He wants us and arrange things in our lives as He sees fit. We read, “In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name. And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king” (Esther 2:21-23). That turned out to be an incredibly important event for it ultimately saved the life of Mordecai. Reading with hindsight, we can see that Mordecai was clearly led by the Lord to be there at that moment. Years later as Haman was planning Mordecai’s death because Mordecai would not bow to him, it just so happens that the king decided (when he couldn’t sleep) to read “the book of records of the chronicles.” He found “that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.” The scripture help for these verses suggests that “it is implied that the Lord’s influence led the king to read this particular part of the record, prompting him to remember Mordecai’s heroic act from a few years prior.” The author of the book wanted us to see that the Lord’s timing was impeccable, and Mordecai’s life was saved because of it. The king said to Haman, “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?” Haman of course thought it referred to himself and answered accordingly, only to hear the king say this, “Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken” (Esther 6:6, 10). This happened the day that Haman was going to have Mordecai hanged, which surely would have happened without this intervention from the king.

Mordecai’s life was preserved, and he ultimately replaced Haman who was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The final verse of the book reads this way: “And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed” (Eshter 10:2-3). Clearly the Lord had prepared him for a great work, preserving his life and putting him in a position to bless his people. This final statement suggests that there was much Mordecai did that we do not know, but it highlights the fact that the Lord was in the details of his life and will likewise be in ours. As Elder Rasband taught, “The Lord’s hand is guiding you. By ‘divine design,’ He is in the small details of your life as well as the major milestones. As it says in Proverbs, ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; … and he shall direct thy paths.’”