Bible League: Living His Word "Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?"Esther was a beautiful young woman who was raised by her cousin and adoptive father Mordecai among the Jewish exiles living in the Fortress of Susa. She had been taken from Mordecai's home and placed in the harem of King Xerxes. The king loved Esther more than the other women and made her his queen. When Mordecai heard about the plot to destroy the Jews by Haman, the most powerful noble in the land, He implored Esther to petition the king for help. His words are the words of our verse for today. As Christians, we believe that God leads us and guides us. Indeed, we pray that God would lead us and guide us. Further, we believe that we should wait for the leading and guidance of God. Instead of following the dictates of our sinful selves, we believe we should wait for God to show us the way. Further yet, we believe that God has ways of making His leading and guidance known to us. He gives us an inner witness of the Spirit, or an inspired thought, or a dream, or any number of other kinds of indication. Although we believe God shows us the way, it doesn't follow that we have a perfect understanding of where He's taking us and why. When David contemplated the hand of God guiding him, when he saw that God had hemmed him in "behind and before," he declared that such "knowledge was too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain" (Psalm 139:5-6). It is true that God gives us glimpses of where He's taking us from time to time, but at bottom such knowledge is beyond human comprehension. We don't follow God because we've seen and pre-approved His direction for our lives, but because we trust Him. But then the moment arrives when it all makes sense, when the goal becomes clear. Surely Esther did not want to become a harem girl, surely she did not know why she became queen, but the moment came when God's purpose was revealed. Mordecai's words of our verse are rhetorical. Clearly, obviously, God had brought her to this point in time so she could help her people. Although God did not previously reveal His purpose, He was speaking forcefully now through the circumstances of life and Mordecai knew exactly what Esther had to do. Esther's God is your God too. He's been leading and guiding you to your "such a time as this" moments as well. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 13, 14, 15 Ezekiel 13 -- Reproof of False Prophets NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 14 -- Idolaters Condemned; Judgment Is Imminent NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 15 -- Jerusalem Is Like a Useless Branch NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Hebrews 11:20-40 Hebrews 11 -- Hall of Fame of Faith NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good.Insight We shouldn't make fun of those who don't agree with what we believe (“scoff at prophecies''), but we should always “test everything,'' checking their words against the Bible. Challenge We are on dangerous ground if we scoff at a person who speaks the truth. Instead we should carefully check out what people say, accepting what is true and rejecting what is false. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Isaiah 33:17 Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied with superficial views of him; and the more deeply you study his transactions in the eternal covenant, his engagements on your behalf as the eternal Surety, and the fulness of his grace which shines in all his offices, the more truly will you see the King in his beauty. Be much in such outlooks. Long more and more to see Jesus. Meditation and contemplation are often like windows of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which we behold the Redeemer. Meditation puts the telescope to the eye, and enables us to see Jesus after a better sort than we could have seen him if we had lived in the days of his flesh. Would that our conversation were more in heaven, and that we were more taken up with the person, the work, the beauty of our incarnate Lord. More meditation, and the beauty of the King would flash upon us with more resplendence. Beloved, it is very probable that we shall have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had before, when we come to die. Many saints in dying have looked up from amidst the stormy waters, and have seen Jesus walking on the waves of the sea, and heard him say, "It is I, be not afraid." Ah, yes! when the tenement begins to shake, and the clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and between the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in. But if we want to see face to face the "King in his beauty" we must go to heaven for the sight, or the King must come here in person. O that he would come on the wings of the wind! He is our Husband, and we are widowed by his absence; he is our Brother dear and fair, and we are lonely without him. Thick veils and clouds hang between our souls and their true life: when shall the day break and the shadows flee away? Oh, long-expected day, begin! Daily Light on the Daily Path Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,Hebrews 12:22,23 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, • to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, Hebrews 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Philippians 3:20,21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; • who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Colossians 1:12,13 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. • For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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