Today we’re sharing an excerpt from The Bible is For You by Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams, co-founders of She Reads Truth. This devotional journey through every book of the Bible includes personal stories and reflections from Raechel, Amanda, and other voices in the She Reads Truth community. Carefully selected Scripture passages represent each book of the Bible, along with passages from across Scripture to connect the dots in God’s story of redemption. Get a sneak peek at this devotional below.
A Devotional on the Book of Esther
One day years ago, I texted my friend Raechel a photo of my four-year-old son in the ICU. He was lying unconscious in the hospital bed, his little body riddled with tubes, and the bed was surrounded by machines and IV pumps doing the complex work of keeping him alive. It was a dark and desperate situation.
I will never forget what she texted me in response: “It’s a picture of God at work.”
Esther’s situation was dark and desperate too. An edict had gone out to destroy the Jewish people—Esther’s people—and nothing could be done to stop it. When the sun rose the next day, Haman’s scheme would play out just as he planned, and an entire people group would be gone forever.
But our God can work even in the darkness, and he was already reversing Israel’s doom into delight. Instead of meeting sure destruction, “that was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday” (Esther 9:22).
God’s name is never mentioned in the Book of Esther, but his hand is evident as he works through ordinary men and women to bring about this dramatic rescue of his people. Esther herself, a Jewish orphan girl turned Persian queen “for such a time as this,” laid her life on the line to advocate for God’s people before the king (Esther 4:14). And for no apparent reason other than a supernaturally softened heart, the king listened and granted her request. What should have been a day of destruction was a day of deliverance!
A sudden reversal like this is not calculable or predictable. It wasn’t ultimately the result of Esther and Mordecai’s strategy or the king’s change of heart, and it certainly wasn’t a coincidence. This unexpected turn of events was only unexpected because it came from outside the realm of human control. God himself had acted and unraveled Haman’s finely crafted plot against the Jews.
This story foreshadows another time when evil intentions were thwarted by God’s goodness. Centuries after Esther, in the darkness of Good Friday, it looked like the enemy had won. The Lord of Life died a cruel death, and it seemed he had become a prisoner of the grave forever. But on the third day, the greatest reversal of all time took place when the Son of God rose from the grave, overcoming our edict of death and giving us eternal life with him instead. Because of Jesus, our sorrow has turned to rejoicing and our mourning to a holiday.
Is there an area of your life that feels dark and desperate? What would it change to see this thing as “a picture of God at work”? Because that’s the truth. God is working. He is the God who acts, not according to human whims and wishes, but according to his good purposes and in his good time. He hasn’t forgotten you—even when it’s dark, even when you’re surrounded. Hold on, and wait for the Lord. “Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14 NIV).
Want to learn more about The Bible Is for You by Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams? Watch the short video below or view a free sample and additional videos.
Excerpted with permission from The Bible Is For You by Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams. Copyright 2026, B&H Publishing.
About Raechel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams
Raechel Myers is always on the lookout for beauty, goodness, and truth in everyday life. Founder of She Reads Truth, Raechel can often be found cooking up a project in her kitchen, puzzling at her dining room table, or tending her garden and making gospel connections with the soil. She and her husband Ryan make their home south of Nashville, Tennessee, where they are preparing their two teenage kids to launch well into their next chapters of life.
Amanda Bible Williams is co-founder of She Reads Truth. When she isn’t writing, editing, or podcasting, Amanda enjoys working crosswords, laughing at sitcoms with her family, and catching up on her reading for seminary. Amanda and her husband David live in Franklin, Tennessee, with their four kids. And yes, her maiden name really is Bible.
Raechel and Amanda are co-hosts of the She Reads Truth Podcast and are both general editors of the She Reads Truth Bible and He Reads Truth Bible.
