Sometimes God’s way of rescuing his people starts with a beauty contest.

King Ahasuerus was a powerful king (with a name that’s hard to pronounce), and he ruled over the Persian Empire. He had a lovely wife named Vashti, so lovely that the king thought it was a great idea to have the queen show off her beauty for all the people.

Vashti didn’t think it was such a great idea. She refused to do the king’s personal parade. This made Ahasuerus very angry. So he decided it was time for a new queen. He would hold a beauty contest for women throughout the kingdom, and whoever won his favor would be the next queen. Well, as it happened—because God planned it to happen—there was a young woman named Esther who was very pretty. The king delighted in her, and she became queen.

Although the king didn’t know it yet, Esther was a Jew, an Israelite, part of God’s covenant family. Many people hated the Jews, including one of the king’s officials, a man named Haman. Haman was upset because Esther’s uncle, Mordecai, refused to bow down before him. Like a good Jew, Mordecai knew that only God deserves our worship.

This filled Haman with fury. He wanted to kill Mordecai and all the Jews. So Haman tricked the king into signing a decree that all the Jews should be killed on a certain day. The day would be determined by the casting of lots, which is kind of like rolling dice. In their language, the lot was called pur.

When Mordecai learned of the plot to kill the Jews, he begged Esther to do something. “You can’t stay silent any longer,” he said. “If you don’t help your people, God can save his people another way, but you and your father’s house will perish.” Now this is the famous part: “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

We can’t always see God’s plan, but we can see where he’s placed us. And when we have an opportunity to do the right thing, we should take it. Esther knew that going before the king was dangerous, but she decided she had to do something. “If I perish, I perish,” she said. That’s a brave queen.

So Esther and Mordecai came up with a brilliant plan to trick Haman in his own trickery. They invited Haman to a meal where he thought he was being honored, but he ended up being exposed as a liar. When the king saw Haman’s lies, he killed Haman instead of the Jews. In fact, on the very day that the Jews were to be killed, they gained mastery over those who hated them. The Jews celebrated with the feast of Purim, because God had worked all things for their good.

And God still works all things for our good. He’s in control of everything. From lots to dice to royal banquets. And even beauty contests, too.