Daily Power-up: Esther 7:3
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.
Personal Reflection: Esther
Sometimes, life just stinks! Imagine, being a child and losing your parents then finding yourself living with a cousin ~ thus begins the story of Esther and how she comes to live with her cousin Mordecai. While living together, they develop a positive, loving relationship and I imagine Esther finds stability, which is important for a young person.
Sometimes, life just stinks! Now Esther finds herself forced to enter into a harem, with other young virgins, for King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) while he seeks a replacement for Queen Vashti. What?! I’m sure this isn’t something she signed up for - to be placed in a harem and used in today’s version of human trafficking! Not only does life seem unfair it is sometimes rotten! And for young women growing up in Persia, being forced into a harem meant you wouldn’t be able to marry another man because you were the King’s property.
Sometimes, life just stinks! Wait just a minute. In the midst of this seemingly endless tragedy, Esther was able to win the King’s heart and she becomes his Queen - what a romance story! Not only is she beautiful, she is intelligent, courageous and she understands that to appear before the King, uninvited, she risks being put to death. After wrestling with this decision, she realizes that she must take this risk in order to save both Mordecai, and all of the Jews, from persecution and death at the hands of Haman and his troops. Her identity as a Jew, which she has kept a secret, must be revealed to save the people she loves. Through generosity, kindness and a bit of strategic planning, she gains access to the King and reveals Haman’s intention of killing all of the Jews. Haman is then executed and Mordecai replaces him as King Ahasuerus’s right-hand man.
Esther repeatedly takes the ashes of her life and with the grace of God, uses them to rebuild herself each and every time. Was she filled with doubt - yes! Did she ever feel angry - I imagine she did. However, through it all, Esther remains faithful to God, even when her life travels down paths she hadn’t planned. Her faith shows us that having fortitude, grace and perseverance to continually move forward, even when everything around us screams to stop, gives us opportunities to begin again ~ God is right there beside us throughout the journey.
Julie Norrander
has been happily married to Ben Schmidt for 26 years and together they have two daughters, Courtney and Deborah. In her free time, Julie can be found on a bicycle touring our great state with a variety of friends and family. She also enjoys spending time in the garden, hiking, and hanging out with George and Ozzy, her faithful, four-legged companions.
Bible in a Year: Job 38-39
The Word of Promise audio Bible is used by permission. For more information and to purchase the complete audio Bible go to https://www.wordofpromiseapp.com/.
Job 38
The Lord Speaks
1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom
or gives the rooster understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?
Job 39
1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2 Do you count the months till they bear?
Do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;
their labor pains are ended.
4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
they leave and do not return.
5 “Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who untied its ropes?
6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,
the salt flats as its habitat.
7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;
it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8 It ranges the hills for its pasture
and searches for any green thing.
9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will it stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
Will it till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?
Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
though they cannot compare
with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.
19 “Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
and charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
and spread its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command
and build its nest on high?
28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29 From there it looks for food;
its eyes detect it from afar.
30 Its young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there it is.”