Skip to main content

One Year Bible: Day 345 - Esther 1:1-2:18; Revelation 2:18-3:6; Psalm 140:6-13

God is at work in the life of both the Church and the nation. He has a message for His Church. It is the message of the Spirit: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Revelation 2:29; Revelation 3:6). This message of the Lord concerns His Church. It also concerns the world. On the surface, the story of Esther is not a very spiritual story. Nevertheless, God is there. Amid all the talk of "twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics" (Esther 2:12), God was working out His purpose. He was revealing Himself as the "Sovereign Lord", the "strong defender" of His people. The plans of men - "the wicked" - did not succeed. The pride of man was brought to nothing so that the glory belong to God alone (Psalm 140:7-8). This is the message of the book of Esther. In order to hear this message clearly, we must read between the lines. This message may not be spelled out in detail. Nevertheless, it is there for the believing reader who is attentive to the Lord, speaking through the events of history. God's concern is that there may be "justice for the poor", that "the cause of the needy" may be upheld (Psalm 140:12). This is a concern which will take us beyond the fairly narrow and well-defined scope of the Church. God's concern takes us into the world with a desire to see the quality of life improved by God so that the people will be more deeply moved to praise His Name and live in His presence (Psalm 140:13).

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lord, we worship You in the place of worship ...

Psalm 48:1-14 Lord, we worship You in the place of worship – “Within Your Temple, we meditate on Your unfailing love.” Help us to go out from there, and play our part in seeing that Your praise “reaches to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 48:: 9-11). How will other people know of Your love, if we don’t tell them? How will they find their way to Your House, if we don’t invite them? When we share Your Word with others, help us to remember Your promise: “My Word … will not return to Me empty, but will … achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).
Post a Comment
Read more

“Whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.”

There is to be prayer from “every one who lives in the land” (Joel 1:14). It is to be personal prayer - “O Lord, I cry to You for help!” (Joel 1:19). These two belong together - prayer for the nation and personal prayer. This is expressed so well in the words: “O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee. Send a revival. Start the work in me.” We hear the words, “Return to the Lord, your God” (Joel 2:13). They are followed by some wonderful words about the character of God - “He is merciful and compassionate, patient and always ready to forgive and to change His plans about disaster” (Joel 2:13). How do we know that God is like this? We look at what He has done for us - “Be glad and rejoice. The Lord has done great things!” (Joel 2:21). Looking at all that the Lord has done for us, we trust His promise: “Whoever calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32). This salvation is more than forgiveness for past sins. It’s more than the future glory of being in God’s ev...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lord, we celebrate Your love.

Deuteronomy 16:1-17:13 Lord, we celebrate Your love. We rejoice in Your salvation. Your love is a dying love. We see Your love in the death of Jesus, our Saviour. It's also an undying love. It's the only love that never dies. It never comes to an end. It's eternal love, shown to us in the sacrificial death of "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
Post a Comment
Read more