Is the deliverance that God extends to us a passive activity on our part? In Esther 9 and 10 the day that Haman had set for the annihilation of the Jews arrives; God moved the heart of the king to allow the Jews to defend themselves and a fear of Mordecai and the Jews fell upon on the hearts of all the people of Persia. Was this all that there was to the deliverance of the children of Israel? Could they sit back and watch God deliver them? If the Jews of Persia would have sat idle they would have had no deliverance. The people of Israel had to rise up and fight for their lives in the face of those who hated them. God granted the Jews victory but they needed to embrace and trust that God was faithful and able to help them. Were the actions of the Israelites a result and evidence of their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?

Was the greater battle for the people of Israel when they wrestled between relying on their own strength and the strength of God? When we are faced with our own moments of trouble and annihilation will we be willing to trust God? When we trust God we are giving up the control over our lives and placing it in the hands of God. In the moment of trust we need to remember that no matter where our lives turn God is allowing and ordaining all that happens in that moment. It is easy in the moments we need help from God to lay out the plan for our deliverance and recite it to God in detail. God is not looking for us to qualify how we want Him to help us; God desires us to trust Him and wait. When we place our expectations upon how we want and expect God to work we are truly not giving up control in our lives. Give up your striving today and let God work in the ways that only He can.