"False Confidence" (Ester 5:6-9a)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/5/2011 5:44:20 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                    Focus:  False Confidence

 

Bible Reading & Mediation                                                                      Reference:  Ester 5:6-9a

 

            Message of the verses:  “6 As they drank their wine at the banquet, the king said to Esther, "What is your petition, for it shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done." 7 So Esther replied, "My petition and my request is: 8 if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and do what I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king says."“9 Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart;”

 

            Haman’s false confidence was the second force that was against him.  Haman must have had his head grow a few sizes after becoming the only guest to eat with the king and queen.  This over confidence would be part of his downfall, for in a few short hours Haman would die, and his over confidence would be part of the reason for his death.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe points out three evidences of the sovereignty of God from what took place at this first banquet.  The first evidence was that Ester did not divulge the reason as to why she had invited the king and Haman there.  This is important because of what would happen to Mordecia the next morning, for he would be honored by the king, and Haman would be the one who is used by the king to bring this honor to Mordecai.

           

            The sovereign hand of the Lord was also seen in this delay to the next day for the king.  This is not the kind of a thing that these kings were used to, that is being told what to do, and that is exactly what Ester was doing, however God was in charge of this drama.

           

            The third evidence of the providence of God is seen in those who were aids of the queen, for if they had told Haman that Ester was a Jewess then we would have seen a different attitude in Haman, trying to even getting rid of the queen.  God saw to it that none of those involved with Ester would tell Haman of this.

           

            Now that Haman was invited to another banquet with the king and queen must have made his confidence become larger, but soon his bubble would burst.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I have been reminded in this section is that my confidence should always and only be in the Lord, and this again is part of learning contentment, for to have confidence in my own ability is not the way that I can learn contentment, for contentment is realizing that the Lord is in control of all that goes on in my life and me accepting that even though at times it is not pleasant, but necessary for Christian growth, becoming like my Lord (Romans 8:29).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.       Placing my confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, for after all He loved me even before I was His child, and therefore after becoming His child through His work on the cross, I must realize that I surely can trust Him.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Trust the Lord to get me through this morning without any bad effects from IBS.

 

10/5/2011 6:05:55 AM

"Divine Sovereignty" (Ester 5:1-5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/4/2011 7:17:16 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  Divine Sovereignty

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 5:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace. 2 When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter. 3 Then the king said to her, "What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you." 4 Esther said, "If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him." 5 Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly that we may do as Esther desires." So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared.”

 

            In today’s SD we begin the all important fifth chapter of the book of Ester.  Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter in his commentary on Ester “The Day in The Life of The Prime Minister.”  He begins this chapter giving a little idea of what the chapter is going to be about by writing two things:  “In which an evil man gathers enough rope to hang himself,” and “Haman didn’t realize it, but four forces had already begun to work together to destroy him.”

 

            We remember that at the end of the forth chapter we left Mordecai and Ester and some of their friends going on a three day fast and prayer time to seek the Lord that He might intervene on behalf of the Jews so that they would not be all killed because of the law that Haman had convinced the king to write.  Chapter five and verse one we see what will take place after that fasting and prayer time.

           

            First let us look at a portion of a Psalm that will describe Haman:  “14 Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. 15 He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. 16 His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate, (Psalm 7:14-16).”

 

            It took a great deal of faith on the part of Ester to approach the king with her request.  Let us look at some verses that show that Ester was not acting on blind faith, but faith that could be seen from the pages of Scripture.  First let’s look at Genesis 12:1-3, verses we have looked at before, “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”  Now we will look at another familiar verse 2Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  Now we will look at a verse from the NT that has caused many people to misunderstand the way of Salvation, for the verse speaks of what should happen after one is saved, and this verse shows what Ester did do as an act of faith, “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”  Ester’s faith was not useless, and it was not dead as some translations of the Bible use in this verse.  Ester had a great faith in the Living God, and it showed up in her work by going to see the king in spite of having her life hang in the balance.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes of Ester’s preparation “Preparing to pray is as important as praying itself,” Ester was not only prepared to pray, for she and her friends had prayed for this moment, but she also prepared herself by putting on her queens attire, and also knowing the code of behavior of the palace.  Ester was indeed prepared. 

           

            Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”

           

            Dr. Wiersbe gives four reasons why Ester did not divulge the real reason that she came to the king about right away:  The first reason was that this was not the right time.”  When one looks at what will happen in the remaining parts of the book of Ester one will see that the providence of God was still at work.  It was also not the right time to tell the king because he was not ready to hear this kind of news at that time.  I am sure that this wisdom that Ester used came from the hand of God, as God is an all wise God.

           

            The second reason is that the throne room was not the right place for her to speak to the king about this issue.  There were surely others present in the throne room who would have heard this request and so it was better to do it in a private setting.

           

            “The third reason was Ester wanted Haman, and only Haman, present when she told the king about his prime minister’s evil plot.”  When we get to that part we will be able to see why she wanted only Haman present with her and the king.

           

            The forth reason was not known to Ester and was alluded to when I wrote about the first reason and that was the fact that the king would not be able to sleep this night and would discover that no one had rewarded Mordecia for saving his life as he read through the chronicles that night.  As the proverb above mentions that God is in control of the king’s life, we see that He was even in control of the king’s sleep, or lack of it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am surely no king like this king was a king but I have had nights when I could not sleep and in some of those nights it was because the Lord was truly speaking to my heart.  I can remember one night like this in November of 2003.  I had had the privilege to lead a number of our neighbors to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that Wednesday before the eve of Thanksgiving the Lord made it very plain to me that He was the One who had done this miracle, and showed me that it surely was a miracle to see someone come to the Lord.  I have never looked at the salvation of a soul in a flippant way again, but only a miracle from the gracious hand of God.

 

Spiritual Meaning for my life today:

 

1.       Trust the Lord even on nights when I cannot sleep, for He may be using that time of sleeplessness to show me something I need to know.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Continue to make my prayer life better, and to the glory of God.

 

10/4/2011 8:15:56 AM

  

"He Expedited the Plan" (Ester 4:15-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/3/2011 9:23:08 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “He Expedited The Plan”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Ester 4:15-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “15  Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16  "Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." 17 So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.”

 

            We come to the issue of fasting again, and as I have already written about fasting in an earlier SD I wish to quote what Dr. Wiersbe says about this subject in this SD:  “Fasting and prayer are frequently found together in Scripture, for fasting is preparation for concentrated and humble prayer.  (See Ezra 8:21-21; Psalm 35:13; Daniel 9:3; Acts 13:3).  Of itself, fasting is no guarantee that God will bless, for fasting must be accompanied by sincere humility and brokenness before the Lord (Isa. 58:1-10; Joel 2:12-13; Matt. 6:16-18).  If fasting is only a formal religious ritual, it accomplishes no spiritual purpose.”

           

            We can see that the crisis at hand is bringing a revival throughout all of the kingdom of Persia by all of the Jews that were living there.  Even though God is not mentioned in the book of Ester his fingerprints are all over the book.  The Jews were humbling themselves before the Lord and fasting and praying which are great ways to begin a revival.

           

            The portion of Scripture that Ester tells Mordecia “If I perish, I perish” is kind of hard to truly understand for it could mean that Ester is saying that I will go along with what you are asking me to do but if I die I will just die.  This could also mean that she was trusting in the Lord to bring about exactly what He had planned for this crisis and whatever He has planned for Ester was ok by her.  I lean towards the second because of knowing the rest of the story and how Ester acted in this great drama, bringing glory to the Lord through her actions.

           

            As we look at this drama building we can see that there is a lot of things that are against Ester including the law that does not allow her just to stop in and see the king, or the law that was to kill all of the Jews in a few months.  Being a woman was actually against her for we have seen how the king treats the opposite sex.  The officers at the court were against her for they were only looking out for themselves.  Even with all of this against her Ester moved forward believing that God truly had a purpose for her being where she was at this time in her life.  Romans 8:31 says “if God be for us, who can be against us?”  The answer, by faith of course is nothing.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I am convicted by is the word humbling, and that is a word that I suppose if hard for a lot of people.  Could it be that pride and humility are opposites and that means that the reason why it is hard to be humble is because of pride, pride in that one does not want to admit their mistakes, or when they are wrong?  When I was young, and in school I remember a song that was sung by Roger Miller that still rings in my ears from time to time.  The portion of the song that I remember is “Pride is the chief cause in the decline of husbands and wives.”  For a singer singing a song that was kind of country it surely makes a lot of sense to me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Pride comes before a fall.

2.     Humility is better than pride.

3.     Continue to learn contentment.

10/3/2011 9:55:55 AM

 

 

 

 

 

              

"He Exhorted The Queen" (Ester 4:10-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/2/2011 8:34:19 PM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “He Exhorted The Queen”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ester 4:10-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days." 12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. 14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"

 

            Dr. Wiersbe took a long time to write his commentary on this section, as this section has probably the most important and most famous verse in the entire book of Ester.  The highlighted phrase above is what I am speaking of and in that phrase we will see that there are many things that come out of it including the sovereignty and providence of God.  I will be quoting some of the commentary that Dr. Wiersbe has written on this section as it is very rich and will perhaps unlock some questions that people have about the issues that will be written about from this portion of Scripture.

 

            It is hard to determine whether or not Ester was trying to make light of what was happening as far as the law that would kill all of her people, but she may have just been reminding Mordecai the rules of the palace and what it took to get into see the king.  She surely could have lost her life by going into the king unannounced for that was just the way that these kings in that part of the world at that time of the world operated. 

           

            As mentioned in yesterday’s SD we see Hathach as an important character in this drama.  It has been suggested that it is possible that he was a Jew and therefore has as much at stake in all of this as Ester and Mordecai had.  We see throughout this book the wisdom of God in having the right people in the right places to do the right things, and only God with the great and awesome wisdom that He posses could have worked this out, for God works through both those who are unbelievers as well as believers to bring about His plan on earth. 

           

            I am sure that Mordecai knew the promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, yet even though this would give him confidence that God would work this out he still knew that he had to be a part of all of this in order to help save the Jews from being completely destroyed as a people.

           

            “As you ponder Mordecai’s words, you will learn some basis truths about the providence of God that are important for Christians today.  The first is that God has divine purposes to accomplish in this world.”  This is important to understand for some think that this world was created by God only to let it kind of unwind on its own, something that the Bible does not say at all.  

           

            “Mordecai made it clear that God accomplishes His purposes through people.  For reasons we don’t fully understand, God permits wicked people to do evil things in this world; but He can work in and through unbelievers and His own people to accomplish His purposes.  While He was not the author of his sins, God permitted the king’s drunkenness and his foolishness in deposing Vashti.  He used the king’s loneliness to place Ester on the throne; and, in chapter 6, he will use the king’s sleeplessness to reward Mordecai and start to overthrow the power of Haman.  In great things and little things, God is sovereign.”

           

            The third truth that Mordecai emphasized was that God will accomplish His purposes even if His servants refuse to obey His will.  If Ester rejected the will of God for her life, God could still save His people; but Ester would be the loser.”

           

            “The forth lesson from Mordecai’s speech is that God isn’t in a hurry but will fulfill His plans in due time.”  Dr. Wiersbe now quotes from A. W. Tozer’s book “Knowledge of the Holy” two times:  “The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history.  God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began.”  “In the moral conflict now raging around us whoever is on God’s side is on the winning side and cannot lose; whoever is on the other side is on the losing side and cannot win.”

           

            I must mention that this book “The Knowledge of the Holy” is a great book to read and ponder as you read it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are two things that I can take away from this section and that is first of all Mordecai knew that God had promised Abraham that He would care for and bless the Jews and that He would curse those who tried to destroy them.  Knowing this did not stop Mordecai from acting but it prompted him to act. Second is that this section teaches me more about learning to be content, for knowing that God is in control and has a plan and even uses me in that plan give me great confidence in my quest to learn contentment.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Learn promises from God’s Word in order to pray them back to the Lord when they are relevant in my life.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/2/2011 9:29:21 PM   

"He Explained Their Peril" (Ester 4:4-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/1/2011 11:28:25 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus:  He Explained Their Peril

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 4:4-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people. 9 Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther.”

 

            We learned in yesterday’s SD that Mordecai was wearing sackcloth and was at the gate that leads into where the king lived.  It was very dangerous for him to do this for if the king had come out then he could have found himself in great trouble with him,  However when Ester sent him clothes to wear he refused them and this enabled him to send a message to Ester through a servant of hers.  I think that Dr. Wiersbe makes a wonderful point when explaining what this servant did, “As great doors can swing upon small hinges, so great events can turn upon the deeds of ‘small’ and sometimes anonymous people.”  So was the case of Hathach, for although his name is given there is little else known about him other than he played a vital role in this ongoing drama that is told in the book of Ester.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This section reminds me of what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 12 when he was explaining to the Corinthians about the gifts of the Spirit, a lesson that they truly needed to here.  The way that he explained this to them was by using the body as an illustration and then showing them that not all of the gifts are as visual or seemingly more important as some of the other gifts, however they are all important, just as the job that Hathach did in our story of Ester.  Paul writes the following to the Corinthians “12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. 19 If they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many members, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; 23 and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, 24 whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

           

            The point that I see here is that when people become believers in Jesus Christ they become a part of the Church, and are thus given jobs to do and gifts to enable them to do these jobs.  No matter what gift or gifts we receive from the Lord we are to use them for His glory, and not become jealous of the gifts that other are given.  We may be that small hinge that turns great doors, the point is that we are to obey and serve with the gifts that the Lord has given us to serve with and be thankful that we have the great privilege of serving the Lord, and bringing honor to Him.  Ephesians 2:10 is one of my favorite verses:  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

My Steps of Faith for today:

 

1.      To be thankful that I can be a small hinge that will turn a big door for the cause of Christ.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/1/2011 11:51:52 AM

"He Expressed His Concern" (Ester 4:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/30/2011 8:22:21 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                     Focus:  He Expressed His Concern

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 4:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. 2 He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.”

 

            Today’s SD begins the forth chapter in both the commentary of Dr. Wiersbe and also the book of Ester.  Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “A Day of Decision,” and he writes this statement before beginning his commentary, “In which the queen goes into her counting house and counts the cost.”  In this chapter we will discover what it is that Mordecai will do about the peril that has fallen upon the Jewish people.

 

            I want to take this opportunity to write about what the Jewish people did when they heard about the law that was to kill all of them.  They began to fast, and weep and wail, and also put on sackcloth and ashes.  We see this at different times throughout the OT, and at times in the NT.  It seems that this is a lost form of worship in our churches today.  In the economy of the OT Law people were required to fast.  While Jesus was here on earth He explained to the disciples abot John the Baptist that the reason that His disciples did not fast was because He, the Bridegroom, was with them, however after He left them they would again begin to fast.  The NT also states “when you fast,” and so it is assuming that people will fast.

           

            I have read a number of books on the human benefits of fasting and have fasted on two different occasions, once for a week on nothing but water, and then for 22 days with only one glass of juice per day.  It is amazing that when one fasts that after three days they are not hungry at all, and it seems to me that both the physical and spiritual things that happen when you fast are similar.  Physical benefits are to cleanse the body of toxins and allow the body to begin to heal itself.  Spiritual benefits are that of cleansing the mind and spirit, taking time to listen to the Lord as your mind is much clearer than when you are eating.  Other spiritual benefits are that when you fast it usually because you have a spiritual item that you are concerned about and so you do not want the process of eating to hamper your thoughts about seeking the Lord’s direction for your life. 

           

            When you fast, as I mentioned, after three days you are not hungry, however the next time that you feel hungry is the time to end the fast, for if you don’t it begins to starve you.  If you look at both Matthew four, and Luke four you will read about the Lord Jesus Christ fasting for forty days.  Although the text does not say so I do believe that the Lord did drink water, for after three days without water you can surely die, and it seems to me that Jesus did not use his powers for things like that.  If you read the text it says that after forty days He became hungry, and so it was time for the fast to end.  I read of a man who fasted for ninety days, and it was under supervision.  He must have been a large man when he began his fast, for when fasting the body uses the excess fat as fuel to keep on living.  Large people who fast seem to lose weight, while thinner people do not lose that much weight.

           

            At any rate the Jewish people began to fast and pray to the Lord because of the peril that had come upon them and Haman and the king were feasting and having a party time.

           

            Mordecia put on sackcloth and began to cry out over what had happened and he went all the way to the king’s gate this way.  He did not care that others knew that he was Jewish for he was in mourning over what had just taken place.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes this in his commentary from who he believes comes from Edmund Burke of England, “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”  Solomon writes the following “11 Be the saviour of those who are given up to death, and do not keep back help from those who are slipping to destruction. 12 If you say, See, we had no knowledge of this: does not the tester of hearts give thought to it? And he who keeps your soul, has he no knowledge of it? And will he not give to every man the reward of his work?” (Proverbs 24:11-12 Bible in Basic English)

           

            These quotes surely did not apply to Mordecai for he was doing something about what was going on in Persia at this time, and the Lord would use both he and Ester to save their people from wicked Haman and his plot to kill them.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I hope to have the same courage that Mordecia had when facing things like he faced.  I believe that the same cause is to be taken up by the people of God over the issue of abortion, for who else cares for these unborn babies if we as believers do not.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Do what I can to help the cause of the many unborn babies in America.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

9/30/2011 9:08:12 AM

"His Apathy" (Ester 3:15b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/29/2011 9:21:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                              Focus:  His Apathy

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 3:15b

 

            Message of the verse:  “and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion.”

 

            In today’s SD we look at the last reason why Haman was such a dangerous man, and it is because of his apathy.  (Emotional emptiness Inability to feel normal or passionate human feelings or to respond emotionally)  (Encarta Dictionary) (North American)

 

            This section of Scripture reminds me of looking at movies based on World War II, especially those based on the European theater when you can see so many Jews being killed for only being Jewish, and then you see the German soldiers eating and drinking like nothing was wrong. “Schindler’s List” is a movie produced by Steven Spielberg that tells the story of how the Germans were killing the Jews in WW II and although it has some rather graphic scenes in it one can surely see the apathy of those who were killing the Jews.

 

            We see in the last part of verse fifteen two men, one who seems to have no idea what is going on, and one who is on a mission from Hell.  After the law is given these two men sit down to have a drink, and I am sure in the case of Haman it was to celebrate his seeming victory, but in fact in three months he will be the one who is killed by the man who does not seem to know what is going on.  God had two people waiting in the wings to do His will, Ester and Mordecia.

 

            In his commentary on this verse Dr. Wiersbe quotes Helen Keller who wrote, “Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.”  He also tells the story of J. Hudson Taylor who was a great missionary to china in the late 1800’s and how he had gone into a church where the believers were feasting and fellowshipping, and there was really nothing wrong with that, but he was unsettled with it and was pondering what the Lord had for him to do, and so he went for a walk on the beach.  One of the phrases that he had written in his book that got to the heart of Warren Wiersbe was “unable to bear the sight of rejoicing multitudes in the house of God.”  As stated above there is nothing wrong with this provided that the hearts of these people in the house of God had a good attitude of doing the will of God which has in it winning the lost.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “but rejoicing must never be a substitute for responsibility.”

           

            The parable of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10:25-37 speaks of apathy, for there were two “religious” people who saw the plight of the wounded man and walked right by, but the “disrespected” Samaritan stopped and helped the man and cared for him until he was well again at his own cost.

           

            The problem that is seen here is that apathy is not just found in unbelievers who want to go out and destroy the Jews, for it can be found in believers who do not remember what it is to be lost, and therefore do little to tell others of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ.  They are content in great fellowship with their friends when there is a world of lost people around them who need to hear the go good news of the Gospel.

           

            I have a friend of mine who has coined the phrase “Divine Connection,” and I like that phrase and have had some divine connections that have happened to me on different occasions.  A family moved in next door to us a few years back and I had the privilege to leading a pretty large number of them to the Lord, start a Bible Study with them where others came to know the Lord, and then took a few months to disciple them in the fundamentals of the faith.  This was surely a divine connection as it was the Lord who set all of this up and all I had to do was follow the leading of His Spirit.  It was in the summer when the first of them received Christ and then in the fall we had a Bible Study where more came to know the Lord.  One night about a week before Thanksgiving I woke up around 4:00 AM and could not go back to sleep.  This was a moment unlike any other in my life when the Spirit of God was speaking to my heart about those who had just been saved.  He seemed to say to my heart that it was Him who had done this and that this was the greatest miracle that can happen.  I began to cry over the fact that these people were now part of God’s kingdom and I have never looked at the salvation of a soul like I did before.  I must admit that there was a form of apathy in me before that morning, and I thank the Lord that He spoke to me then.

           

            I must say what is on my heart at this time and that is that I believe in divine connections as there have been more such times since the very special year.  I don’t think that we as believers need to have a guilty conscience about not witnessing to the lost, unless we are not willing to do so, but I do believe that we need to pray that God would send us these divine connections and when they come be willing to step out by faith to tell them of the hope that we have within us.  Pray that God will lay someone on your heart that He will save, and that He will allow you to be a part of it.

           

            Last year I had a painful experience with a kidney stone and went to a doctor to have it “blasted.”  He did a terrible job of it and so I ended up in the hospital to have it removed another way.  The doctor that was going to do this procedure was a man whom I had a burden for him to know the Lord, as I had him before but due to some insurance issues could not go to see him.  I truly believe that this was a divine connection, even though it was a very painful thing that I went through in order to see this doctor again.  While going to see him for a visit after the procedure I took the time to write him a long letter about how I came to know the Lord and how He changed my life.  I also bought for him a small mp3 player with some messages on it from the 9^th chapter of Daniel.  I pray for him a lot and hope to see him soon, as we have been out of state for eight months.  When I think about the pain that I went through to be able to tell him the good news of the Gospel I know that it was all worth it.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to have a heart for the lost and I pray that the Lord will continue to send me more divine connections in order to tell them the greatest story ever told.  When apathy seems to try and slip into my life I pray that the Lord will remind me of that wonderful morning when He showed me the beauty of seeing a soul saved.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Pray for more divine connections.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Pray that our Bible Study that begins tomorrow will bring glory to the Lord.

 

9/29/2011 10:53:27 AM