The biblical character, Esther, has a few things in common with "Miss Congeniality." No, really.

I admit to loving that movie--as do most of the girls in my extended family. Call us shallow, but we love to get together to watch Sandra Bullock morph from a clumsy FBI agent with scary eyebrows and nasty hair into an undercover (and actually believable) beauty pageant contestant.

Bushy-browed undercover agent becomes believable pageant contestant; little no-name orphan girl becomes the Queen of Persia. See the similarity? It's all about the big reversal of events.

In the case of Esther, you-know-Who was working undercover. We never hear His name mentioned, but he leaves fingerprints everywhere.

After we read the entire biblical story, we get the point the author is making: The God of Israel shows loyal love time and again to His covenant people; the Almighty Lord is sovereign in all His dealings; and the Lord of providence kindly cares for His people despite their disobedience.

The believer's own story is not all that different from that of Esther and of "Miss Congeniality." Consider the grand reversals. We were once lost, but now we are are found. We were once poor, but now we are rich. We were once lonely orphans, but we have been adopted by the King.