For such a time as this ...

Today, we will dwell one last time in the word
within Esther, but
considering a different question.

Remember:
Get in a quiet place.
Close your eyes.
Still your mind and body by “centering down.”
That is, breathe in for 3 counts, and exhale for 5 counts.
After a moment of silence, read the text.

As you read the text, ask yourself:

How does this text orient us to the coming reign of God?

After you read the text,
close your eyes and meditate on it and the question.

After several moments and you have a clear and
complete view of the text in your mind,
write down your thoughts.
Now that I have changed some settings on the blog
you may, If you wish, post your thoughts underneath today’s
devotional.

Hear the word of God:

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. In every province, wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.

Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law — all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days." When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."
Esther 4:1-16 – NRSV

Grace and peace,

Ron

Victory and joy

Today’s devotional thoughts from Greg:

One thing we are all searching and reaching for is joy. Real, undiluted, enduring joy. The Bible often tells us that we have great joy in Christ, but many of us struggle with the specifics. How do we find and obtain this joy? Where does it come from?

Clap your hands, all you nations;

shout to God with claps of joy.

How awesome is the LORD Most High,

the great King over all the earth!

He subdued nations under us,

peoples under our feet.

He chose our inheritance for us,

the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.

Selah

God had ascended amid shouts of joy,

the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth;

sing to him a psalm of praise.

God reigns over the nations;

God is seated on his holy throne.

The nobles of the nations assemble

as the people of the God of Abraham,

for the kings of the earth belong to God;

he is greatly exalted.

- Psalm 47

Joy can come from the knowledge, and acknowledgment, of God's power. The God we serve is in control. No rebellious forces in this world can change God's purpose for our lives. No matter what people, kingdoms, stresses, or failures pull and tug on our lives, God is powerful enough to protect us.

Ultimately, God's power is most perfectly reflected in Jesus' resurrection from the dead. God's sovereignty extends farther than our sin. Our unchangeable, unshakable King has determined to offer us new life with Christ, so that we too may be raised from death. This is certainly cause for joy! The simple, yet beautiful fact that God is powerful enough to free us from the black storm cloud of sin is the source of the "good news of great joy" pronounced at Jesus' birth.

Bestir, O Lord, Thy might, we pray thee and come;
that, defended by Thee, we may deserve rescue
from approaching dangers brought on by our sins,
and being set free by Thee, obtain our salvation.
Who livest and reignest, with God the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
God, world without end. Amen.
- Advent prayer

Joy to the world, a child is born!
Let earth receive her king!
Let every heart prepare Him room
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing
and heaven, and heaven and nature sing!
- Joy to the World

Lord, help us to know joy as a spring always welling up within us
and give us power to dance through life,
not as men and women who are blind to sorrow, misery, or shame,
but as those who know your victory over death and cannot help but rejoice.
- Edmund Banyard

May you rejoice in God's everlasting power today, and may you be glad that no sins or circumstances are able to overpower God's victory.