Esther 1 (11:2-11). Mordecai, a Jew in exile, and a powerful man in the court of the king, had a dream. In his dream there was great noise and confusion, thunder and earthquakes and tumult, and two dragons emerged, roaring terribly and ready to fight. Every nation on earth responded to the roaring by preparing for war against the nation of the righteous. Then a day of darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, afflictions and great tumult came upon the earth; "the whole righteous nation was troubled; and feared the evils that threatened them, and were ready to perish." They cried to God and from their cry came a river, at first as from a tiny spring, but becoming a great river with a abundant water. Light came, the sun rose, and the river consumed those held in honor while the lowly were exalted.

The opening verses of Esther are misordered, as the footnote in the link points out, so this dream is at the beginning of the book, and it perfectly foreshadows what is about to happen with Esther being lifted up to queenship and saving her people from evil. But it also foreshadows many battles we have in this world, in fact it is a good allegory for the battle we are enaged in at all times. And it is a good reminder of the power of faith and that God will always protect his righteous people.

The nations and the dragons have always been against the righteous to one degree or another. Sometimes there is a period of calm, but  the devil does not rest and he is in charge down here (remember, he told Jesus that all the kingdoms of the earth were his to give!). Sometimes, too, the battle heats up and the enemy is emboldened and arrays itself against God's people. This is happening now, and it is very frightening. We have been losing a lot of skirmishes, and people along with them, but God will see us through.

God will raise up the lowly and fight the evil, just like he did with Esther, and David, and Mary. It will happen, we cannot lose hope. We must continue crying out to him and eventually our small spring will become a raging river - sweeping away evil and cleansing the earth.