Holy Rambo

Unit 18, Session 1, Day 5 What a beautiful song of praise is presented to us in Isaiah 26. There are several phrases in this chapter that have become familiar to us through preaching and song. "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you." (vs. 3) "My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you." (vs. 9a) Not so commonly expressed, but a personal favorite: "We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.

Unit 18, Session 1, Day 4, Esther 7-10 I will share a fundamental secret of God’s work in the world. God works through people. I mentioned a conversation I overheard earlier this week where someone said God had never been there for him. I expect if I had been part of the conversation I would have learned what he thought that would have looked like. And, I expect God has been there and he just didn’t recognize it, because he expected something miraculous and big, or he expected to not have experienced difficulty. Mordecai had no prophetic dream or vision. He had no heavenly visitations. Somehow, when the king started looking for a new favorite wife, he knew to send his pretty little cousin. Somehow, without visible divine intervention, she became his favorite wife. Somehow, without angel voices, she found she could risk her life to save her people. God…works…through…people. But we can only be steered if we are in motion. Esther could have hidden in her rooms and no one would have kn...

Unit 18, Session 1, Day 3, Esther 4-6 Today’s devotional reminded me of the Haggadah, which is recited during the Passover Seder each year in observant Jewish households. It recounts the story of the first Passover. In it, the language is very first-person. “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt…” It is spoken as though the speaker had been there personally. Esther, who had kept her heritage to herself, was now being asked to reveal herself and to intercede on behalf of her people. She could have interceded without revealing herself, but the impact of her revelation, that Haman’s plan would have led to her death, gave an intimacy and immediacy to her intercession. I think intercession before God often works in a similar way. We need to be able to identify with the person for whom we are interceding. That was easy for Esther, for she was simply revealing herself to be one of those for whom she was interceding. If our intercessory prayers are going to beyond the quick “God bless so and ...

Unit 18, Session 1, Day 2, Esther 1-3 I was witness to a conversation last week in which I was not a participant. The main part of the conversation was about rap music but, apparently there is a son in which the rapper explains he doesn’t believe in God because God has never been there for him. One of the participants affirmed that this was why he doesn’t believe. As I was re-reading the first three chapters of Esther, I wondered if it felt this way to those people. Queen Vashti was certainly no believer in Jehovah, but I’m sure she would not have seen His providence, though it was plain in her circumstances. Mordecai certainly couldn’t have had any idea what God might have had in mind when he suggested Esther submit to the king’s harem.

Unit 18, Session 1, Day 1, Psalm 40 Waiting is hard in the best of circumstances. Waiting when there is danger and no apparent relief must be frightening. Mordecai learned of the decree against the Israelites and planted himself outside the King’s Gate in sackcloth. He waited for Esther to notice he was there. He waited while she tried to get him to dress appropriately to enter the gate and while he refused. He waited while he convinced Esther to intercede with the king. He waited while she fasted. He waited while she had the king and Haman to dinner…twice! But he waited with confidence that his God was with him and would rescue His people.