Lessons from Esther: A new Queen

15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. 16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Esther 2:15-17

Now it is Esther’s turn to go before the king. Just like the women before her, Esther was allowed to ask for anything she needed. Esther did not ask for anything, she was satisfied with the items she had.

Everyone who saw Esther was impressed with her beauty. It was not just outer beauty but inner beauty that Esther possessed. Inner beauty radiated to the outward appearance.

The king was also “taken” by Esther. He loved her above all the other women and set the beautiful jeweled crown on her head. Esther the orphaned Jewish girl was now the beautiful queen of King Ahasuerus who ruled over 127 provinces.

What can we learn from this small portion of scripture?

©  Esther was humble v15a

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:6

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10

©  Esther was satisfied  v15b

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. I Timothy 6:8

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrew 13:5

©  Esther had a quiet spirit v15c

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. I Peter 3:4

©  Esther had inner beauty 

…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. I Samuel 16:7

The “hand of God’ can be seen in this portion of scripture, His name is not mentioned but God was with Esther each step of the way.

As I look at the life of Esther and the circumstances that she found herself in, I thank God for my life. Instead of griping and complaining about the situation we need to thank God for His guidance and sovereignty.

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Food, drink and money

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things. Ecclesiastes 10:19

Solomon is saying that some people think the only thing in life is money, food and drink. A simple equation to explain this is money equals laughter and food and drink.

Warren Wiersbe in Be Satisfied says, “This verse declares the personal philosophy of the foolish officers (verses 16-17)… They are totally indifferent to the responsibilities of their office or the needs of the people.”

This sounds a lot like Luke 12:19-21  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

There is nothing wrong with money but when we love money more than anything else the Bible tells us to watch out!

 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1Timothy 6:10

Let’s not fall into the trap that “money is everything”. Money is good when used rightly but it is not the “be all and end all”. 

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Wisdom or Money

11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. 12 For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Ecclesiastes 7:11-12

Solomon is saying that wisdom is as good as an inheritance. There may be some people who would disagree with the statement. How can wisdom be as good as getting an inheritance?

Will wisdom help me lead a better life or will money?

Will wisdom show me which job to apply for or will I be better off with more money?

Will wisdom get me the education I need or will money?

Warren Wiersbe in Be Satisfied has this to say about verses 11-12, “Money can lose its value, or be stolen, but true wisdom keeps its value and cannot be lost, unless we become fools and abandon it deliberately. The person who has wisdom will know how to get and use wealth. … Wisdom is like a “shelter’ to those who obey it; it gives greater protection than money.”

Here are a few more verses on the subject:

She (wisdom) is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. Proverbs 3:18 

My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: Proverbs 3:21 

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1Timothy 6:10  

If you had a choice what would you choose, wisdom or money?

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5 

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Restoration continues

[23] In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: [24] And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. [25] And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. [26] Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. [27] Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? [28] And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. [29] Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. [30] Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; [31] And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. Nehemiah 13:23-31

The book of Nehemiah ends. We can see the progression of sin, repentance, obedience, restoration and then the  cycle starts again.

Wow, is this just in Nehemiah’s time. I dare say no. The Christian life is like any other life. We make mistakes, we learn from our mistakes, we make more mistakes, we learn from those. Life is a circle. Hopefully we learn and grow and do not make the same mistakes again, but sometimes we do. We are imperfect people but we have a perfect Savior. He is always waiting to teach us His way.

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Proverbs 24:16 

We may not have the same problems as the people in Nehemiah’s time, but we still have problems.

In this portion Nehemiah is saying, what you are doing is the same thing that King Solomon did. Do you not remember that he was drawn away from God because of sin?

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 1Kings 11:4 

I think of all the things/events/people/places that can draw me away from God. I have to make a conscience decision to stay away from those things. It is not easy to do right.

·        The first step is to know yourself and know your weaknesses. Stay away from those temptations.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1Corinthians 10:13 

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. James 1:12 

·        Learn from the mistakes of others. There are many examples in the Bible as well in history and even in our own circle of family and friends.

·        Ask the Lord to restore you. No matter what one has done He is waiting with outstretched arms to receive us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1:9 

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:12 

·        We can break the cycle of sin if we are willing to wholly follow Him.

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. 1 Timothy 6:11 

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 1Peter  2:21 

Please join me on my next post. I will sum up what I learned about Nehemiah.

Have a blessed day,
Donna

Great Accomplishment

[15] So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. [16] And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. [17] Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. [18] For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. [19] Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. Nehemiah 6:15-19

Great news, the wall is finished in only fifty-two days. Fifty-two days is less than two months. According to Josephus, an ancient historian, the wall was 33 stadia which converts to approximately 4.5 miles long. This was an amazing feat to accomplish. The wall was in total despair when he arrived, destroyed and burnt (2:13). He had constant opposition (2:10; 2:19; 4:1-3 …) and discouragement from workers (chapter 5). In all this Nehemiah kept going.

Just to keep this in perspective, the city I live near is in the process of a major renovation of a local highway. The project is changing the highway (6 lanes, 3 on each side) to a boulevard (2 lanes, one on each side) for approximately 1 mile. The projected time frame is 2.5 years and the cost is very expensive. Keep in mind that the project has skilled people, modern machines and up to the minute technologies.

When you take into account that Nehemiah did not have skilled people, did not have modern machines, and certainly did not have the technology we have today, one is awed and can see the hand of God. This is exactly what the people saw in Nehemiah’s day, “they perceived that this work was wrought of our God”.

Letters passed between the nobles and Tobiah, keeping each informed of the progress. Some also tried to tell Nehemiah about “good deeds” that Tobiah was doing. Nehemiah did not take the bait, which was when Tobiah sent him threatening letters.

Lesson learned:
When the world recognizes we are doing God’s work they become dishearten. The world wants us to go along with them not follow the Lord.

We need to follow God and be strong, no matter what. Nehemiah did not budge but trusted God, we need to do the same.

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. I Timothy 6:11

Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God. III John 1:11

Have a blessed day,
Donna