Saturday, October 30: Esther 4-Problems, trouble, how do you respond?

And who knows but that you have come to [your] position for such a time as this?" (14).

Esther was not looking to be a heroine. She, like most of us, was likely living her life one day at a time. Presently she was growing insecure about her position as queen.  It had been 30 days since the king last invited her into his presence. Out of nowhere pops this crisis for her people. Could she play a role?  Should she play a role? What should she do?

For a brief moment she entertains doing nothing. “Let’s ride it out and see what happens,” may have been her thought. Her uncle’s words above burst her bubble, “OK, I’m in.  I’ll speak to the king. But first…” But first let’s pray… “Uncle, you have the community pray for me and I and my maid will pray. Then I’ll go to the king.” Esther is talking serious prayer, prayer + fasting for 3 days!

Reading Esther’s story unfold drives me to ponder how I react during times of trouble or problem. Do I reach out to my Lord or just try to handle it on my own?

My brief review is a mixed answer. Sometimes I look to myself. Sometimes I look to the Lord. I can think of examples of both. The Spirit’s nudge… “Look to Me, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will always be there for and with you.”

Not every problem requires 3 days of fasting and prayer but asking the Lord for guidance is ALWAYS a wise choice…

Lord God, Thank You for Your promise to be with me (us) always. Thank You for the invitationto always be attentive to my (our) prayers. Develop in me the desire and habit to talk with and consult with You as I live my life, during times of trouble and times of calm. In Jesus name. Amen.

 

Friday, October 29: Esther 3- Time, secrets, faith.

Almost a decade has elapsed since the story began. It begins in Xerxes 3^rd year (1:3). The beauty contest took a number of years, the beauty treatments themselves required 12-months and the text mentioned that Esther didn’t go to the king until his 7^th year (2:16). Now as chapter 3 continues, the account we learn is Xerxes’ 12^th year (3:7). I thought about the passing of time. Esther has been a faithful queen for half-a-decade and for all that time she had kept her Jewish heritage a secret. The text is silent about this. I wondered if members of the court knew Esther’s secret. Did her attendants know? Surely some people must have known since Mordecai, the Jew, was her uncle. Was the king in the dark about her Jewishness?  Obviously, Haman was.

I wondered how she maintained her heritage and her Jewish faith in relative secret.  Secret keeping is difficult in its own right. Add to that maintaining a faith in secret…

I thought about some of the women I have met who have converted to Christianity from Islam through some medical mission efforts. Many of these women have to return to Muslim families after they are healed.  Sharing their faith in Jesus could and likely would mean expulsion from the family and possible death. Add to that the fact that women have virtually no rights and no way to feed or provide for their children should they be abandoned by their husband.  What do they do? In some instances I know they have been counseled to be quiet about their faith in Jesus. How hard it must be to maintain faith when you are isolated and alone. That, apparently, was Esther’s situation.

I began to count my blessings. I have brothers and sisters and family that share my faith, who encourage me and help me and pick me up when I fall and smile when God blesses and …

Lord Jesus, thank You for my family and friends, brothers and sisters in faith who are there to walk the walk of faith with me. I don’t know where I would be without them. I don’t know how Esther survived. I am so grateful for the family of faith You have placed around me. Thank You, Lord, thank You. Amen.

 

Thursday, October 28: Esther 2- What do you see

Esther’s rise to Queen of Persia is a story made for today’s reality TV. Orphan girl raised by her widower uncle (no mention of an aunt) is the back story. We could follow Esther as she keeps her heritage secret and becomes the favorite of Hegai, the contestant manager and beauty consultant. Just imagine the conversations among the contestants during that year!

Then out of all the beautiful contestants vying to chosen queen, Esther wins!

I can easily imagine Hollywood highlighting Esther’s amazing looks, wonderful charm and the breaks she made for herself along the way.

Maybe the story should be one of those hero/heroine stories? “Rudy,” “Invincible,” or “Blind Side” with a beauty pageant rather than football theme? Again, Esther’s orphan upbringing could be stressed invoking sympathy and showing how a person can overcome any obstacle. Esther could be portrayed as naïve and sheltered as she enters the contest and out blossoms this amazing beauty who wins. Then early on the job she saves the king, exposing the plot. With a little Hollywood makeover they could do it.

I played with the above plot possibilities because I realized that we can read this story simply from a human perspective.  Poor girl makes good, eventually saves the king (and this is only one chapter, just wait the story will grow). And yes, that is true, but…

But there is an unspoken layer, God. God orchestrating His saving will.

Reading this book it came to me that I make choices regularly to see or not see God’s hand at work in life… to recognize or not recognize God’s hand at work in my life…

I found myself looking back over my years and consciously paying attention to God’s providential and saving movements in, around and with me all my years…

O, God, thank You for being there for and with me. Thank You for working in my life even before I acknowledged You as Lord and God. Thank You for not giving up on me… thank You, thank You, thank You. In Jesus’ name I thank You. Amen.

 

Wednesday, October 27: Esther 1- Life with no restraint

I found myself thinking about King Xerxes. He had absolutely no restraints. Whatever he wanted to do, he did. The opulence of the party: 7-day duration, the decorations, guest list, gold goblets and flowing wine. And when he makes a decision, it is law, period. No review, no check and balance.

When his wife, the queen, says ‘no’, she is deposed on the spot and a search for a new queen set in motion. Need it done, want it done… do it.

An ego run amuck.  A life without restraint.

I wondered what his life was like when the doors were closed? Was he content? Did he enjoy life? Was he satisfied? No way to know and my thoughts are merely projections of myself and any reading I may have done.

I flipped to God’s words through Paul. Everything is permissible but not everything beneficial (1Cor 6:12. 10:23). Then I pondered this self imposed restraint… and how it instructs life for one seeking to follow Jesus.

I thought again of Paul. I pummel my body… (1Cor 9:27) thinking again of how this instructs one seeking to follow Jesus. And more scripture flowed in my soul… “you are a new creation” (2Cor 5:17), take off the old and put on the new (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10 ) and so on.

No restraint sounds ideal on paper… but left to ourselves with no restraint, sin flourishes and lives are hurt.

O, Lord Jesus, thank You for sending the inner voice of the Holy Spirit, for teaching me right and wrong, for showing me Your way which develops godly restraint and seeks not to please self, but to live to please You –Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To You, O God, I pray in and through Jesus. Amen.

 

Tuesday, October 26: Nehemiah 13- Accountability

How sad!  Only two days ago I read about the wonderful spiritual reforms in Israel. Now today I read about all Nehemiah needed to do to reestablish godly order in Jerusalem after a few years away. The word ‘accountability’ kept popping into my mind. It was as if I was watching a baseball game on TV and the word ‘accountability’ kept scrolling along the update banner on the bottom of the TV screen. Accountability… Accountability… Accountability… over and over again.

Left without accountability, Israel went berserk. Many of the reforms that Nehemiah instituted during his governorship needed to be instituted again.

What gives? Don’t these people get it? Can’t they remain faithful? These and similar thoughts fired around my mind. And even as they were reverberating in my thoughts, the Holy Spirit’s whisper began, “Don’t be to smug, Bill. Don’t be too quick to point a finger. Don’t grow holier-than-thou. The human heart hasn’t changed since then. You are just as able to turn from Me as they were. Sin and your sin-marred self must be held in check and accountability with others can be a great help…”

And so the Spirit spoke, not audibly but clearly, to my heart and mind… 

Lord, I am prone to thinking I am better than I really am… thank You for this reality check. Thank You for the reminder about the benefits of honest accountability with others as I walk this life of faith. Amen.

 

Monday, October 25: Nehemiah 12- Celebrating God's goodness.

The devotional heart of this chapter came toward the end of the reading. I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks… One choir processes in one direction and the second in the other. Together they circle the entire city up upon the walls until they met at the temple where The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; … The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. (31, 40-43).

The Lord has brought them back to the land and reestablished Jerusalem.  God was to be praised! When it comes to celebrating the goodness of the Lord, Israel did it right. They did not hold back, they celebrated… pageantry, procession, participation and preparation. And the result, just check out v 43: The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

God is deserving of our praise.  God was certainly the focus of this celebration as all Jerusalem sang and sacrificed to the wonders of the Lord.

Another thought occurred to me, people respond to well orchestrated and well executed worshipful leading. People rejoiced (43), people gave (44) and people purified themselves before the Lord (45). So powerful was the move of God that Nehemiah reestablished the ministry of singers with directors for the singers as David had done years ago.

Song reaches to places of the heart that words alone can never go.  Singing is not the sum total of worship.  Notice people giving and purifying lives and don’t forget all of this grew from Ezra’s preaching and teaching of the word… these, too, are worship. But singing and song – directed singing and song - sets worship ablaze in people hearts so that those other elements can spring for deep roots.

Think about it…

Lord, just yesterday we worshiped and in a few days we will worship again. We will use songs to You and about You to set our lives ablaze that we worship You with the whole of our being, giving, confessing, learning and growing in and for You. In Jesus name. Amen.

 

Saturday, October 23: Nehemiah 11- Names, names, names.

Not much happens in this chapter. It is a chapter filled with the names of people selected to live in Jerusalem and repopulate it.

I read it once, thinking there is not much here but a list of names. I read it again paying more attention to the names and lineages, but again I thought, “Not much here but names.” I began to wonder, “God, what’s the nugget for today?” As that thought entered my thinking, I also thought, “My, there are a lot of names, names of people I don’t know, names I cannot pronounce.”

These two thoughts seemed to collide… “Ahhh, I thought these people may be unknown to me. Their names may be unpronounceable to me but not to God. The Lord saw fit to make sure their names are written in Scripture. God knew each one of these people intimately. He numbered the hairs on their heads and the days of their lives. These men and their families were precious to the Lord…”

A simple truth, but a wonderful one… God knows me. I am important to Him. He knows my name, the number of hairs on my head and the days of my years. God knows me intimately and my name is written in His family register!

This thought reminded me of a wonderful song by Tommy Walker, He Knows My Name, which goes like this:

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call

If you are connected to the internet, you may want to check out this YouTube of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmtGSuw04Y.

God knows your name and God loves you. God knows my name and loves me.That’s what filled my meditations as I contemplated the names listed in Nehemiah 11.

Lord, my heart is filled, realizing that You, Lord God of heaven and earth, know me, care for me and love me. O, Lord, I can’t wait to gather with Your family and worship You tomorrow… See You tomorrow at worship, Lord… Amen.