Every sci-fi fan will be familiar with the concept of the butterfly effect. For those who are not, the butterfly effect is the idea that a time traveler can visit the past, and with the smallest of actions, could drastically change the future. The common example is killing a butterfly in the past, hence the name "butterfly effect".
Now, what does that have to do with the zombies included in the header image? This is actually a scene is from a specific game by Telltale Games, a now obsolete game developing company. Telltale has several game stories which revolve around the butterfly effect. The main concept of the game is that the player can cause the characters to make certain choices, which will result in a change to the story. These choices can even lead to the death or survival of a character.
But the most notable flaw in this type of game is that the player's “choice” is, ultimately, an illusion. No matter what choices the players make, the plot itself never really changes. In fact, “determinant” characters (those who have the potential to die as a result of the player’s choice) very rarely live to see another season, and they never have a particularly large role in the story following their first death opportunity.
In many ways, multiple choice games such as those produced by Telltale reflect our reality. Just as Telltale’s plots, in the long run, are not affected by the choices of the player, so also are God’s plans not affected by our choices. Mordecai was absolutely right. Esther was in a prime position to deal with the current threat to the Jews, and eventually, of course, she took her chance. But suppose she had let fear of Xerxes prevent her from acting. Suppose she had decided she didn’t care if the Jews died. Would God’s plans have been thwarted by the faithlessness of one Jewish girl? Far from it. The Bible is full of “ifs”, and all of them end in God fulfilling His promises, His plans, His purposes.
But rather than making us feel confident in sitting around waiting for God to act, this should make us all the more motivated to obey Him. Now, we have two reasons to obey, the first being obedience itself, and the second being the resulting loss, on our part, should we fail Him. Mordecai warned Esther that if she failed to act, the Jews would be delivered, but Esther and her father’s household would not be delivered.
The same can be said of us. When offered the opportunity to obey God, or disobey Him, we can be sure that whichever choice we make, God will be victorious. But only He, knowing our future, will be certain of the result to us. Far too often, we ask things like "well if God knows what I'm going to pray, why should I pray it?" I like Mike Winger's simple response: Because if you don't, then God knows you won't. Your choices matter, it's just a question of whether you win with God, or lose against Him.