When God Has a Different Plan

In the story of Esther, an evil man name Haman, the Persian king’s right-hand man, planned the destruction of the Jewish people in Persia (modern Iran), and got the king to issue a royal decree to make that happen. Esther, the Queen of Persia, was also secretly a Jew. So her first cousin, Mordecai, asked her to go to the king and plead for her people.[1] After this, she waited three days, during which time she fasted. Although the Bible doesn’t explicitly say so, I’m sure that during those three days she also prayed.

What do you think she prayed for? Perhaps she prayed that God would make the king revoke the order for the destruction of the Jewish people, even though that was against Persian law. Maybe she prayed that God would shield the Jews from attack, or hide them so their enemies couldn’t find them. Or maybe she prayed that God would take the Jews in Persia back to Jerusalem before the attacks could happen.

I’m sure we’ve all prayed for a sick friend or family member, asking God to heal our loved one, only to have that person die. Perhaps you’ve prayed for a job—and were left unemployed; prayed for a promotion—and didn’t get it; prayed for money to pay your bills—and didn’t receive it.

In those instances, God didn’t give you what you asked for because He had a different plan—a better plan.

In the story of Esther, Haman eventually lost everything, including his life. But even though Haman was gone, the order for the destruction of the Jews remained. On March 7, 473 B.C., the Jews were scheduled for execution.

But God did not hide the Jews or shield them. He did not send them back to Jerusalem. And He didn’t have the king try to revoke the order.

God had a different plan—something I’m sure Esther could not have imagined when she had prayed several days earlier.

The Persian king gave all of Haman’s authority to Queen Esther, who then gave it to Mordecai. This included the king’s signet ring, which brought the power to issue commands in the king’s name and with the king’s authority. Using that authority, Mordecai issued an order that allowed the Jews to defend themselves, as we read in Esther 8:11:

In the letters the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, kill, and eliminate the entire army of any people or province which was going to attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoils.

So when March 7, 473 B.C. arrived and their enemies came against them, the Jews were ready. They killed 75,000 of their enemies, including 800 in the Persian capital of Susa. Even the government officials sided with the Jews.

This great victory became the reason for the celebration which the Jews call Purim. Mordecai ordered that Purim become an annual celebration.

When we pray, we frequently think we know what God should do—we want Him to change our circumstances, and sometimes we want Him to change them in a very specific way.

But God often has a different plan, because—as Paul tells us in Romans 8:26—“we do not know what to pray for as we should.” We often pray for the wrong thing—we pray for what we think we need—and the Spirit intervenes to ask God for what we really need.

So instead of healing our friend or family member, God grants us the peace of knowing that our loved one is better off with Jesus and that he will help us move on with life without them. Or instead of giving us that job or that promotion we desire, God opens a different door and places us where we can serve Him in a better way.

I served on active duty in the Navy for twelve years. And if you had asked me in my eleventh year if I was going to make it a career, I would have said yes, absolutely. The Navy had selected me for their post-graduate law program in Health Care Law at George Washington Law School, which would open the door for me to serve as the lawyer for a Naval Hospital—my dream job. I was planning to stay on active duty for at least 20 years.

But God had a different plan. I left active duty because God made it clear to me that that was what he wanted me to do. Nine months later my mother died. Because I was back home during those nine months, she got to spend time with my infant son—her new grandchild—before she died. My father lived another six years after my mother’s death, and we grew closer than we had ever been before. I was there for him to lean on after my mother died. My unmarried aunt, who was almost like a second mother to me, lived another seven years after my father died—and because I was not on active duty, I was able to look after her when she developed dementia.

Meanwhile, God repeatedly opened doors for me to make a living and support my family.

God is certainly able to change our circumstances—and sometimes He does. But sometimes He has a different plan, something we never would have imagined.

Our challenge is to remember that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.” (Romans 8:28) That doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us. But believing that God will always bring good from whatever happens is a big part of what having faith in God is all about.

[1]. For a discussion of the beginning of the book of Esther, see my blog entry from July 2021 here. I also discuss the book of Esther in chapters 181-184 of my book, The Old Testament Made Simple (Part 2). Go here to view a list of chapters and read a few sample chapters. The book is available on Amazon, as is Part 1.