"The King's Rage" (Ester 7:5-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/13/2011 8:10:19 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  “The King’s Rage”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 7:5-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?" 6 Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman." Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. 8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, "Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?" As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.”

 

            In the verses above we have perhaps the most important thing that will happen in the entire book of Ester.  It is like listening to a musical masterpiece where the composer of the music brings the music to a climax that has been hinted to all through the piece and finally arrives and then the music begins to become lower in volume after this great crescendo takes place.  Yes there will still be some highs and lows in the music, but none like what has just been heard.

 

            It is good to look at this from the prospective of the king and what he may have been going through his mind at this time.  The king was the man who promoted Haman to the position that he was in and also the king was part of this conspiracy to kill all of the Jews.  Now the king had just spent a very restless night and to help him sleep had read about the brave thing that Mordecai had done in saving the life of the king.  He just finds out that his queen is Jewish, and that the man he trusted wanted to kill her because she was a Jew.  Now we have learned that the king was hot tempered and did not always think before he acted and so he decides to take a walk in the palace garden to think about what had just transpired.  He surely had a lot to think about and it was good that he decided to take a walk.  While he was gone this “vile Haman” began to beg for his life for he knew that his fate had already been sealed in the mind of the king, but while this was happening the king comes back from his walk to see all of this and does not realize what Haman was doing thinking that he was trying to molest the queen.  This alone was worthy of death and so the king orders Haman to be taken away.

           

            The last part of verse eight “they covered Haman’s face” seemed kind of difficult to understand to me and so I looked at it in different translations and most of them said the same thing.  I suppose that this statement means that some of the king’s guards covered Haman’s face before taking him away.  This is what John Gill has to say about this portion of the eighth verse:  “the servants present, as a man unworthy to see the light; and they took what the king said to amount to a sentence of condemnation, and that it was his will he should die; and they covered his face, as condemned malefactors used to be; which was a custom among the Greeks and Romans, of which many instances may be given {l}; though Aben Ezra says it was the custom of the kings of Persia, that their servants covered the face of him the king was angry with, that he might not see his face any more, which was well known in the Persian writings.”  I think this makes this statement clearer and more easily understood.

           

            I liked the courage that is seen here by Ester and not mincing her words but calling Haman “vile Haman.”  The hatred that was in the heart of Haman is now revealed to the king, and it was this hatred that the king did not realize that caused him to be a part of the law that would have all of the Jews killed.  This same hatred has been part of many people throughout the history of the world and it comes from the devil who has hated the Jews ever since they begin back in Genesis twelve, for it was the Jews who would eventually seal the fate of Satan.  God will keep His promise that He made to Abraham and a part of that promise was that God would curse those who cursed the Jews.  Satan is the one who has been behind this cursing in every case.  Hitler is one of the recent men who was filled with this hatred that came from Satan and today the Jews are surrounded by many people with this same hatred, but there is coming a day when all of these wrongs will be made right and all of the people with hatred towards the Jews because they are Jews will face the punishment of Almighty God and will end up where Satan will end up.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Think before you act is one thing that I can take away from this section along with not losing my temper.  There are times that in the course of human events that all people get angry and we can see this even when Jesus walked this earth, however His anger was all justified, and I must admit that mine is not always and therefore I need to confess it when it happens and then begin again trusting that God has forgiven me and that I need to again move forward trusting the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     “Be angry and sin not.  Don’t let the sun set on your anger.”

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

 

10/13/2011 9:00:39 AM

 

 

"The Queen's Request" (Ester 7:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/12/2011 8:44:05 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  “The Queen’s Request”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 7:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done." 3 Then Queen Esther replied, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; 4  for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.’”

 

            Today’s SD begins the seventh chapter in the book of Ester and also begins a new chapter in Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of Ester.  Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “The Mask Comes Off.”  There are three main points to this chapter with the first one the subject of today’s SD.

           

            In his beginning commentary on this chapter Dr. Wiersbe writes about the longsuffering of God, for this was true in the life of Haman as God had warned Haman through circumstances, through his advisers, and through his wife, but to no avail.  I would like to take up a bit on the longsuffering of God before I begin the commentary on this first main point.  We live in a world where many people do not believe in God in the way that the Bible teaches that we must believe in God.  We live in a world where bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people and people wonder where is God in all of this.  I believe that if one understands the longsuffering of God they will be able to answer this question for the Scriptures says in a number of places that there are reasons for the longsuffering of God:  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2Peter 3:9).”  For many people the longsuffering of God causes them to believe that the Lord does not care and will not judge, that perhaps He is not watching what is going on in this world, but that is not the case, “While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape (1Thes. 5:3).”  One of the attributes of God is His justice and that means that God will judge sin, for God did judge sin at the cross as He took His wrath out on the sinless Son of God, but many people do not believe this and so God will take His wrath out on those who do not believe that Jesus paid it all.  Haman missed the warnings that God had given him to repent and now the end is near for him.

 

            One can only imagine how many times Ester went over her speech that she would give to the king the night before, trusting God to give her the strength to deliver it in a way that the heart of the king would understand it and that it would bring glory to God.  Ester was taking her life and putting it in the hand of God and for this we must appreciate her courage in doing this.  When we read this story so many times we sometimes miss how much courage that both Mordecai and Ester had to go up against the rulers of the Persian Empire, knowing that their lives could end at the whim of the king at any time.

           

            The way that Ester gave her request to the king was brilliant, for she did not say that there was a man in the kingdom who wanted to kill all of the Jews, for the king knew all about that, but she told the king that she did not want to die and asked the king to do something about her grave situation.  The king must have been asking the question who wanted to kill his beautiful queen. 

           

            Ester tells the king that if she and her people would to be sold as slaves that she would not bother the king about this matter, but since the edict was to annihilate her and also her people she had to speak to the king about this. 

           

            Ester had said her peace and now she had to wait on the king to make up his mind.  “3 Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established. 4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil (Proverbs 16:3-4).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the issues that I deal with is being in a hurry and the Lord has been working on this in my life.  Today’s introduction to this chapter spoke of the longsuffering of God and this too has a lot to do with contentment and so I desire to trust the Lord even when I have to wait for a while to receive His answer.

 

   My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     I remember a song that was popular back in the mid sixties that at times I sing to myself whenever I seem to be in a hurry.  It was a song written for the culture back then and it was called “Slow Down Your Move Too Fast.”  Perhaps that was not the name of it but that was the lyric that ran through that song and I sometimes sing it over in my mind when I am moving too fast and not waiting like I should be.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/12/2011 9:27:12 AM

"A Day of Danger" (Ester 6:11-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/11/2011 9:11:16 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  “A Day of Disgrace”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Ester 6:11-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, "Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor." 12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered. 13 Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him." 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.”

 

            When Haman woke up early on this morning I am sure that he had no idea as to what this day would bring about.  The day before we saw Haman as a man, who was happy for all of the wrong reasons, those reasons were that he was going to have Mordecai killed and so that is why the early morning trip to the palace.  Now when he gets there he finds that there is a new assignment for him and this began a very bad day in the life of Haman. 

           

            We have seen that after Haman subjects to the king how he should honor a man who had done something good for the king that he had to be the one who followed his own orders, but those orders were not the ones he wished to follow for he had to put the kings robe onto Mordecai and then lead him around on the kings horse saying “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.”  This must have taken a good part of the day for this to happen.

           

            We see two different men going in different directions and yet after the horse ride Mordecai just goes back to his job at the king’s gate.  This is what could be described as humility.  Dr. Wiersbe says the following about this:  “Applause doesn’t change truly humble people, for their values are far deeper.  God can trust His blessings with the humble because they seek to honor only the Lord.”

           

            Haman goes home looking similar to how Mordecai looked when he found out that all of the Jews were going to be killed after Haman’s law was put into force.  When he got home he heard and interesting statement from his wife that if he would have taken to heart he may have saved his life.  I want to look at her statement from the Message:  “"If this Mordecai is in fact a Jew, your bad luck has only begun. You don’t stand a chance against him—you’re as good as ruined.’”  We have seen a number of different ways that could have changed the life of Haman if he would have only listened.  This is the last lesson he heard, and as the others he will not listen to it either.  Haman could have gone into the banquet with the king and queen and say that the law that he helped pass was wrong and repent of it so that something could be done to stop the slaughter of the Jews, but he did not.  Dr. Wiersbe closes this chapter with these wise words:  “When God sounds the alarm, it pays to stop, look, and listen—and obey.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I think of humility I cannot help but think of the Lord Jesus Christ, for there was no man more humble than Him.  The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians chapter two about the humility of Jesus Christ and I wish to use the Philips translation here in order to make it clear what he was writing:  “5 Let your attitude to life be that of Christ Jesus himself. 6 For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his privileges as God’s equal, 7 but stripped himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man. 8 And, plainly seen as a human being, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, to the point of death, and the death he died was the death of a common criminal. 9 That is why God has now lifted him to the heights, and has given him the name beyond all names, 10 so that at the name of Jesus "every knee shall bow," whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. 11 And that is why "every tongue shall confess" that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  There could not be a better example to follow than what is written here that is having the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Having the same humble attitude that Christ had through the power of the Spirit of Christ.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/11/2011 9:50:58 AM 

"A Morning Decision" (Ester 6:6-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/10/2011 8:45:21 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “A Morning of Decision”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Ester 6:6-10

 

            Message of the verses:   “6 So Haman came in and the king said to him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?" And Haman said to himself, "Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?" 7 Then Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king desires to honor, 8 let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; 9 and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ’Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’" 10 Then the king said to Haman, "Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.’”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe calls this second main point “A morning of decision,” and there were two decisions that were made, one by the king and the other by Haman.  The king decided to reward Mordecai, and Haman, thinking that the reward of the king was coming his way decided what the reward would be and the king agreed with Haman and then tells him that Mordecai, the man whose life was to end that day because of Haman’s hatred towards him, was to be rewarded and that Mordecai was the one who would give him the reward. 

           

            When I think of Genesis 12:1-3, the covenant that God made with Abraham and in that covenant God tells Abraham that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who tried to curse him.  This is speaking of all the children of Israel saying that if anyone hates them just because who they are then God would curse them, and this is exactly what is going on in this story, for Haman hated the Jews because they were Jews and was trying to destroy all of them for that reason, but God will not allow this to happen because of His covenant with Abraham, and because of that Abrahamic covenant Haman would die.

 

            There are some more Proverbs that Dr. Wiersbe points out in his commentary on this section and at the end of the list of Proverbs he asks a question that has to do with how the Proverb is constructed, that is there is a comma in the Proverb and there is a choice as to what side of the comma that we are to live on.  Here is the first Proverb “The righteous is delivered from trouble, and it comes to the wicked instead.”  (Pr. 11:8)  Now this one is easy if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and have been born again through His death on the cross which paid for your sins.  Here is the next Proverb “Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.”  (Pr. 18:12)  Now the first half of the verse surely is seen in Haman and the last part is seen of Mordecai, however believers can get off track and as Paul writes in Romans 12:3 “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”  This verse tells believers how they should be.  Next we see Proverbs 29:23, “A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.”  Again we have a choice as believers to choose which side of the comma we live on.

 

            We have spoke of the providence of God and how God is in charge of our schedules so that God’s plan will be completed for He is in control, and now we see that God’s plan was to have Mordecai honored for something he did five years before and the irony of it is that the great enemy of the Jews is used to give this honor to Mordecai. 

           

            Yesterday I listened to a message from John MacArthur that was about prayer, and it may seem that it was in kind of an odd spot in the book of Mark, but when one begins to think about it they will realize that it is in a perfect spot.  This event happened in the last week of the Lord Jesus life on planet earth and as He was leaving to go to the temple He was hungry and looked at a fig tree to give Him something to eat, but there was no fruit on the fig tree and so He cursed the fig tree and immediately it died from the roots upward.  The fig tree represents Israel and in this case the temple, for there was no fruit seen in the temple worship at this time.  As MacArthur develops the message he shows that there are five elements necessary in prayer of which the first one he entitles “historical” and the key word in this section is “remember.”  The reason that I bring this up at this time in this SD is because believers can look at what happened in this section of Scripture and can remember it so that when believers are praying they will have confidence because the Lord was involved in Mordecai’s life and the life of all of the Jews that He will also be involved in their lives too. 

           

            There are four more items that were brought up in this sermon that I will just mention:  “Theological” is the next and the key words are “Trust God.”  Next is “Spiritual” and the key is “Believe.”  “Practical” is next and that key word is “Asking.”  The last and probably the hardest is entitled “Moral,” and its key word is “Forgive.”  The Scripture used in this message is from Mark 11:12-25.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Which side of the comma am I living my life on especially from Proverbs 29:23?  Do I have a problem with pride so that the Lord will have to discipline me or am I being humble, and that goes along with my life verse from Philippians 4:11b which speaks of being contentment.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to learn contentment.

2.      Remember that pride will cause a great deal of trouble in my life, but humility will bring blessings.

 

10/10/2011 10:40:43 AM

PT-2 "A Night of Discovery" (Ester 6:1-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/9/2011 8:18:49 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  “A Night of Discovery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 6:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 The king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" Then the king’s servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him.’“4 So the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, "Behold, Haman is standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come in.’”

 

            This section will show at least five evidences of God’s providence in the life of King Ahasuerus.

 

The king’s insomnia (Ester 6:1a).  The Scriptures speak of how difficult it is for rich people to sleep at night on occasions because of worry over their riches.  This may have been the reason that the king could not sleep, yet the real reason that he could not sleep was because God had something to tell him and needed him awake to tell it to him.  The king surely did not see the hand of God in all of these activities, but we can see it as we look at the text in this section.

           

            As we contrast the fact that man needs sleep while our heavenly Father does not need to sleep we will look at Psalm 121:3-4, “3  He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.”  This verse is true of believers, for while we are sleeping God is always awake making sure that our new day will be what He wants it to be.

 

            The king’s choice of entertainment:  (Ester 6:1b).  I would suppose that the king had a great many choices of entertainment that he could have asked for to keep him occupied while he could not sleep, yet in the providence of God he choose to have the chronicles or records of the kingdom read to him.  This may have been a great sleeping aid, but in his case he stayed awake long enough to hear what the Lord wanted to tell him.

 

            The servant’s choice of books (Ester 6:1c).  In his commentary on this section Dr. Wiersbe sites two people who are quite famous who came to know the Lord through the “accidently” finding and reading of a book.  C. S. Lewis in 1916 and many years before that Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and author of numerous Christian classics. 

           

            In my case it was not a book that actually led me to faith in the Lord, but it was a series of tapes on the end times that the Lord used to bring me to faith in Jesus Christ.  This happened in January of 1974 when out of the blue I decided to take a trip to my high school friend in Florida and that is where I listened to those tapes.  It was surely the best day of my life.

It was the sovereign choice of God that the servant picked up the exact book that told the story of Mordecai saving the king life.

 

            The king’s delay in rewarding Mordecai: (Ester 6:2-3).  I have read over the book of Ester many times and have studied it in Sunday School class before, but as I go over it in this study I find that what happens in these two verses are key to what happens in the entire book, and as written before it was all in the sovereign hand of the Lord to have Ester delay her message to the king so that God’s hand would be on the king’s sleeplessness and the servants choice of books to read.  If Mordecai had been rewarded five years before then the events that were about to unfold would not have happened. 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that this was highly unusual for this kind of thing to happen in the Persian society for when something was done like this, saving the king’s life, then it should have been rewarded at that time, but in this case there was reasons why it did not happen.

           

            We spoke of this in an earlier SD as to how Mordecai must have felt when after saving the king’s life was not rewarded at that time. It is unclear as to how this happened that Mordecai was not rewarded for this act, for the Bible does not tell us why this happened, for it could have been someone who did not like Mordecai and therefore did not report this to the proper people so he would be rewarded. 

           

            In the book of Genesis we see in the story of Joseph that the butler of Pharaoh who was in prison forgot to tell Pharaoh about Joseph until Pharaoh had a dream that needed to be interpreted, yes God is even in control of schedules.  In both the case of Joseph and Mordecai we see that “God’s delays were not God’s denials.” 

 

            The timely arrival of Haman: (Ester 6:4).  It is probably true that Haman was either up early to speak to the king or that he was up all night supervising the building of the gallows on which he wanted to impale Mordecai on. Haman wanted to ask the king for permission to execute Mordecai, but God had other plans.  Proverbs 6:18 reads as follows, “A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,” and this was surely true of Haman.

           

            The timing of Haman’s arrival was surely the providence of God for if he had arrived a couple of hours later none of what was about to happen would have happened.  It was in the plan of God that Haman would be honoring Mordecai, and not gloating over his body hanging on the gallows for all to see, but now all could see Mordecai being honored by Haman as he lead him around the city.

 

            Dr. Wiersbe closes this section by quoting several verses that I will share at this time:  “10 The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation. (Psalm 33:10-11).  “There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the LORD.”  (Proverbs 21:30)  “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”  (Romans 8:31)

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look over the things that transpired in the life of Mordecai and compare them to some of the troubles that have happened in my life I find that I need to have the same kind of attitude that I find in this story by Mordecai, and also by Joseph.  In order to learn contentment I must trust the Lord that all of the difficulties that I have or am facing are to be used to help me to learn contentment.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/9/2011 9:18:57 AM

PT-1 "A Night of Discovery" (Ester 6:1-5)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/8/2011 8:13:20 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus: “A Night of Discovery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference: Eater 6:1-5

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 The king said, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?" Then the king’s servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him." 4 So the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, "Behold, Haman is standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come in.’”

 

            We begin the sixth chapter in the book of Ester and also a new chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Ester.  I have mentioned in many different SD’s that I use Dr. Wiersbe’s “Be” series commentaries to aid my study.  From time to time I look at other commentaries, but most all of the time I follow the outline that is found in the commentary written by Warren Wiersbe.  There are exceptions to this, but not very many as I find it more beneficial to me by following his outlines.  I have also mentioned that when you read the introduction to each chapter you can mostly get a clue as to what that chapter is about, and in today’s study we find this written at the beginning of his commentary that helps to understand what the chapter is about:  “In which God sounds an alarm, but Haman won’t listen.”  The title of this chapter is “Warning Signals” and it has to do with the different warning signals that were given to Haman right before he is to be executed, but as in the case of many people he does not turn from his sinful ways in order to be saved.  Ezekiel 33:11 says, “"Say to them, ’As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ’I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”  (I realize that Haman is not a Jew, but the point is that God has no pleasure in the death of a wicked person).  2Peter 3:9:  “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

           

            I want to also say that as I have studied this subject on many occasions and went away scratching my head as I cannot understand it I have learned one thing that has helped me to understand it and that came in the study of the attributes of God.  The Bible shows the attributes of God and I will just mention a few of them to help to make the point that I wish to make.  God is love, God is just, God is Holy, God is all powerful, God is wise, God is all knowing, and God is everywhere.  Now what I have learned from this study is that God receives glory from all of His attributes.  When one thinks of creation one can see God’s power, wisdom, love, and His holiness, along with His knowing all things.  Now let’s look at the cross where we see God’s love but we also see God’s justice.  God’s wisdom and power are also seen at the cross.  While listening to a sermon by John MacArthur he point out that all of God’s attributes are seen at the cross which means that God received glory for all of His attributes for what Christ accomplished at the cross.  I would suppose that the hardest thing for a believer to understand, at least it was for me, is that God receives glory from His attribute of justice.  One cannot think of God as being vindictive and that He is waiting for people to mess up so that He is waiting to execute His judgment on them.  The verses above from Ezekiel and 2Peter show that this is not true. 

           

            One more example I wish to give and that is from the Ark of the Covenant that has the two cherubim’s on it facing each other.  This is where the High Priest would come in once a year on the Day of Atonement and place the blood on the Arch of the Covenant.  A long time ago when I was listening to a sermon by a Pastor who was explaining this said that one of the cherubim’s represented God’s justice and the other His love.  God is angry over sin, yet He is love so when He looks at the blood His justice is satisfied.  Again it is hard to understand God receiving glory from His justice, but it is true.  Some things you just have to take by faith even though you cannot understand them.  Deuteronomy 29:29 is a verse I run to when I do not understand something like this from the Scriptures it say:  “"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.’”  Let’s look at this verse from the Message “GOD, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.”

 

            I had not planned on writing about this when I started this SD, but that is not how it turned out and so I will have to begin the study of the 6^th chapter of Ester with the next SD.

 

10/8/2011 10:14:21 AM  

"Malice" (Ester 5:9b, 13-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/7/2011 9:20:41 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                                     Focus:  Malice

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Ester 5:9b, 13-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai.” “13 "Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate." 14  Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, "Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet." And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.”

 

            The malice that Haman had deep within his being is what this last SD on the fifth chapter is about, and this will be the forth force that will work against Haman.  In this SD I will copy and paste the definition of what malice is according to Warren Wiersbe, and will also talk a bit of how this is affecting the life of Haman, but first I would like to express something about Mordecai.  I have had in the past and do so today have trouble with some of the officials who are in office, and one of the things that I try to remember is that I must respect the office even if I do not respect the person in the office.  There is another thing that I have learned and that is that God is the One who has put those in office who are in office.  There are two verses in the book of Daniel that have greatly encouraged me in this area and both verses were the words of Nebuchadnezzar, but one must remember that the entire Bible has been inspired by the Holy Spirit:  “"It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.”  “"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ’What have You done?’” (Daniel 2:21 & 4:35)

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes this about malice:  “Malice is that deep-seated hatred that brings delight if our enemy suffers and pain if our enemy succeeds.  Malice can never forgive; it must always take revenge.  Malice has a good memory for hurts and a bad memory for kindness.  In 1Corinthians 5:8, Paul compared malice to yeast, because, like yeast, malice brings very small but gradually grows and finally permeates the whole of life.  Malice in the Christian’s heart grieves the Holy Spirit and must be put out of our lives (Eph.4:30-32; Col. 3:8).”

           

            One can see how malice had penetrated every part of the life of Haman and had blinded him so that in the end this malice would actually be the cause of his death.

           

            Now a word about the gallows that Haman prepared for Mordecia as there is probably a bit of confusion as to what it looked like and how it was used.  When one looks at the old movies that were about the old west and saw someone hanged on a gallows in order to execute them, but this was probably not what is being written about here.  It was written in earlier parts of the Bible of how people were executed and then hung on a tree of a post if their crimes were really bad, but this is probably not that either.  The Persians were known for harsh punishments and would hand their criminals on metal polls until they would die and this is probably what is spoken of here.

            One more point I want to bring up from this section and that is to look back at the importance of how Ester had delayed telling the king about Haman on the first banquet, as we can see the sovereign hand of God in all of this for if she would have spoken of it at the first banquet then it would not have been so effective because the king would not have the opportunity to read of how Mordecia saved his life and would have probably gone along with Haman killing Mordecia.  That delay seems to be one of the most important parts to this story and we can see God’s hand in it to be sure.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that I have found hard to do in my life is to be patient but God has been teaching me this through a series of difficult times, as patience goes hand in hand with contentment.  To see this story unfold, and especially the delay and how God used it shows me the importance of patience.

            I want to quote Proverbs 5:21-23 now in order to get a more insight into the heart of Haman, and how malice was working in his life:  “21  For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths. 22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin. 23 He shall die for lack of instruction, And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      As I continue my quest to locate a good used car my prayer is that I will continue to show patience in waiting on the Lord before I purchase it.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.

3.      Avoid having malice in my life.

 

10/7/2011 10:15:58 AM