Partnering With Jesus to Fix a Problem
What do you do when God seems to have vanished? When you see a problem in our world that Jesus doesn’t seem to be doing anything about? Is there a way to partner with Jesus to fix the problem?
When you watch the news, hear stories in the grocery store line, or get a difficult call from a friend, can life be just too hard? When you have a decision to make, when your stability is shaken, when your sure-fire plan fails – when everything is spinning out of control…then what?
Me? Sometimes I just shut down. Turn on a decorating show, pull out a novel, think about planning a trip to get away. Yet as easy as these things are, Jesus has called us to something different when we see the hurts and pains of our communities, our churches, our country, our world.
While we were having a conversation together about this daily dilemma, my dear friend Amy Carroll shared with me a process the Lord was teaching her when she felt like one woman up against a world of problems. What could she possibly do? After Amy shared her process with me, I began seeing, as I read my Bible, that this was not an Amy process, but a God process!
Over and over in Scripture, God used this process, through the people in the Bible like Esther and Nehemiah, to figure out next steps to see our invisible God in our uncertain world.
Let’s look at these four steps in the life story of Esther:
Move #1: Listen
So often when we see something that needs fixing, our first move is to talk about the problem. Post about the problem. When I look at wise Bible characters, they did the opposite. First, they listened. In Esther 2:15-18, when under extreme pressure, Esther listened to those who were wiser and more experienced than herself. Before she made any move, she listened.
Move #2: Feel
Maybe like me, when you read or hear of trouble in your community, you don’t want to feel. Numbing, however, is Satan’s nasty strategy for keeping our hearts far from God and His purposes for our lives. In Esther 4, we read about Mordecai’s big emotions: “…Mordecai …cried loudly and bitterly” Esther 4:1. Next, Esther and Mordecai go back and forth, “discussing” the problem of the king’s edict to annihilate the Jews, expressing their heartache and what would be the consequences of getting involved.
Move #3: Do
It is not until Esther 5 that we see Esther take action to fix the problem. She has listened. She has felt, and now it is time to do something: go to the king. (Esther 5) She has developed a plan to help the people in her community, and she takes the risk to do so.
Move #4: Speak
Speak…the last action. Not the first, as I sometimes want to do. In Esther 8, Esther uses her words to persuade the king to use his power to help solve the problem.
There is a problem in my community that is much more prevalent than I knew. Food insecurity. Over the past couple of years, my husband and I have listened, we have felt, we have been doing something about it, and whenever I can, I speak, encouraging those around us to care about their neighbors too.
Your Turn…
Take a moment to reflect on a problem in your community that Jesus cares about. In my Proverbs 31 devotion today, Jesus, Why Don’t You Fix this Problem? I addressed the problem of food insecurity and what, as one woman, I am doing to partner with Jesus to bring His love to those who need to experience it in a very tangible way.
This process of listen, feel, do, and speak is not one to be rushed. I encourage you to take a few days, maybe even weeks, to wrestle with God over what He would have you do to partner with Him to bring His love to your world. Studying the life of Esther and taking these steps in your own life can help you partner with God in that problem He has been nudging you about.
Read a sample of Esther: Seeing Our Invisible God in an Uncertain World here.
Get your copy of Esther here.
