Introduction

Where’s My Shoes?

• Have volunteers sit in a circle. Have everyone take off their shoes and pile their shoes in the center of the room. Let the volunteers mix them together and have them go back, sit down together, and close their eyes. Have them count to 25 slowly.
• While they are counting and have their eyes closed, mix up and hide their shoes (in trash can, outside classroom, under chairs, etc.). After
  they have counted to 25 say, “Go!” and allow them to find their own shoes and put them on. The first person to find their shoe wins.
• Today, we are going to learn that the Lord can turn trials into triumphs. He can take something messed up and bring order to it, like
  our shoe activity. We do not know what it was like to walk in Esther and Mordecai’s shoes, but we know they had to trust the Lord
  through a very difficult time. God worked everything out for good, and He will do the same in our lives.

Bible Story

• The story of Esther is amazing. For throughout the story, we see the hand of God working, behind the scenes, to deliver His people in their great time of need. Do you remember the story? Wicked Haman, angry at Mordecai, the Jew, who would not bow to honor him, convinced the King of Persia to sign a decree that would destroy Mordecai and all the Jewish people on a certain day. Still discontent to see Mordecai not bowing, he determined to hang Mordecai on a 75 foot gallows he had prepared—all he needed was the king’s permission.
• But, even as Haman sought permission to carry out his evil deed, a servant was reading the king the “records of the chronicles.” Reminded that Mordecai had saved his life, the king desired to honor Mordecai. Haman began to see the tables turning on him. How could he ask the king’s permission to hang a man the king commanded to honor? As God moved to protect Mordecai and the Jewish people, things would get even worse for proud Haman.
• Remember Esther, the cousin of Mordecai, who had become the Queen of Persia? Mordecai had called upon Esther to entreat the king on behalf of her people. He encouraged her, “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). Esther knew to approach the king without invitation could endanger her very life; yet after prayer and fasting, Esther determined to go to the king on behalf of her people.
• The king received Esther’s approach. Esther invited the king and Haman to a banquet, then another banquet. At this second banquet, she is ready to entreat the king. The king will be quite surprised to find his queen is a Jew. Haman will be surprised, too!
• Again, at the second banquet Esther prepared, the king asked Esther for her petition and promised her it would be granted. At this time, Esther boldly entreated the king for her own life and the life of her people.
• Astonished, the king questioned, “Who would dare murder his queen and her people?” Esther quickly identified “wicked” Haman as the “adversary and enemy.” The king, now, realized Esther, his queen, was a Jew, condemned to die under Haman’s crusade to kill the Jews (Esther 2:10, 3:8-9).
• Haman’s wicked plot to destroy Mordecai and the Jews had turned against him. He stood before the king and queen terrified. He had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
• Overwhelmed by Esther’s revelation and no doubt filled with anger, the king now went outside to his palace garden. Persuaded by Haman, the king had made a decree to destroy the Jewish people on a certain day. Once a king makes a decree, it cannot be reversed or changed. It becomes law! Queen Esther was special to the king and the thought of her now under his own edict, sentenced to be killed, must have broken his heart.
• While the king strolled the palace garden, Haman began to beg Esther to spare his life, “for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king.” How quickly the tables can turn on the wicked!
• Haman fell on the couch with Esther, perhaps because his fear and emotions had overcome him, perhaps also because he had indulged himself in the wine at the banquet and could not keep good balance. It was not good timing for Haman; for at just that moment, the king walked back in. Disgusted with Haman’s actions, the king accused Haman of assaulting the queen. Haman was now a doomed man, suffering the consequences of his wicked heart.
• Harbonah, one of the king’s seven eunuchs (Esther 1:10), wasted no time in telling the king about the gallows which Haman had built during the previous night to kill Mordecai, the man who the king had just honored for saving his life (Esther 5:14). Without any hesitation, the king ordered Haman to be taken and hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai.
• Proud Haman would be hung on the gallows he built in his anger and hatred of Mordecai. Proverbs 26:27 warns, “Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.”
• God had seen the desperate situation of Mordecai and His people. God had seen the wickedness of Haman—his pride, anger, and hatred. As the story in Esther comes to a close, we see that it was God who orchestrated the events that transpired. God’s hand was upon Esther as she was chosen Queen of Persia. She was in the right place at the right time to be an instrument in God’s hands. God’s hand was on Mordecai as he revealed a plot that saved the king’s life and was, later, remembered by the king at just the right time—the very time Haman intended to ask permission to hang Mordecai.
• Our God can turn trials into triumphs. No matter our circumstances, we can go to God in prayer, and He will help. How will you respond when a trial comes your way? Will you realize God is in control, even if the situation seems “out of control?” Will you trust He is working all things together for His good purposes though you may not see it at the time (Romans 8:28). No difficulty is too big for God, and no weapon formed against you will prosper.
• Wicked Haman is no longer a threat. Yet, what about the king’s decree to destroy all the Jews? If it is a law that cannot be changed, how will God work that out? Do you think He will? Our lesson continues next week.

Prayer

Lead the children in a prayer of thanksgiving that God turns our trials into triumphs. Give opportunity to children who have not yet responded to the Gospel.