Contemplative Bible Reading

Esther 4:15-16 (New Living Translation)

15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.”

Esther is about to do something that may mean her death.  What does she ask the Jews of Susa to do?

fast

What? Don’t eat or three for three days and nights. What? What good will that do? Is she kidding? Doesn’t she know they need to keep up their health and strength? What is wrong with her?

What would be the reaction if someone stood in a church today and said, “I am about to do something for Christ that might mean my death. Please, don’t eat or drink for the next three days. I’ll do the same in preparation.”

Of course there are all sorts of reasons and reasonings that will tell us that Esther was in a different context and that we just don’t do that sort of thing today and … and … and (I don’t want to fast for three days).

And perhaps I am a bit ashamed of being able to justify why we in America don’t do this sort of thing.

Esther 3:8 (New Living Translation)

Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live.

If ever there was a prototype of “the bad guy” in the Bible, it is Haman. Here, Haman goes to the King and sort of lies about God’s chosen people so that the King will kill them all. Notice how Haman describes God’s chosen people:

(they) keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people

God’s people are different—noticeably different to the point of being down right irritating. we have to do something about these irritating folks.

Me? Today? Noticeable? Different? God, help me in my unbelief.

Zechariah 7:10 (New Living Translation)

Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.

Notice the “do not” items mentioned in the first sentence. They are horrible—oppressing the helpless. These are obviously bad.

How did the second sentence come right after the first. “Scheming against one another.” First, one another refers to peers, not the helpless. Second, scheming means planning (right?). It’s just thinking about something. It isn’t actually doing anything like oppressing the helpless. Right?

God abhors the thoughts we have against our fellow man. That is quite a New Testament concept to be buried back there in the writings of the prophet Zechariah.

It is there. Where am I? What are my thoughts, plans, and schemes?

Haggai 1:14-15 (New Living Translation)

14 So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, 15 on September 21 of the second year of King Darius’s reign.

What a precious gift from God:

God sparked their enthusiasm.

There have been several times in my life when someone did this for me. They said something that sparked my enthusiasm. My outlook on the world changed in a second.

I believe now that on these occasions, God used those people. It was God who sparked my enthusiasm. I struggle to find a gift from God as precious and life-changing as that.

Ezra 1:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

2 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:

“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah…

The King of Persia proclaims to all:

1. Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews, is the one true god of heaven.
2. Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews, gave all the kingdoms of the earth to the King of Persia.
3. Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews, has appointed to King of Persia to build the Temple in Jerusalem in honor of Jehovah, the god of the conquered Jews.

The Jews of the day concentrated on #3. I think that we today concentrate on #3.

How about #1? The King of Persia recognizes Jehovah as the creator and master of all. That’s pretty big stuff considering that Jehovah is the god of the Jews, and the Jews were a puny nation that Persia conquered quite easily and deported the best of the Jews to serve Persia.

How about #2? That is fairly humbling as the King of Persia recognizes Jehovah as the source of his power and wealth. I would think the King of Persia would credit a bunch of Persian gods. Instead, he credits, well, from the above paragraph, a god of a puny, conquered people.

And now we come back to #3. Jehovah, the LORD, has appointed the King of Persia to do some physical building projects back in Jerusalem. Why does God use a pagan, conquering king to do His work?

God uses some unlikely people to do His work on earth. After all, God has me doing some of His work. It seems He could find someone more capable and more likely, but hey, God used the King of Persia, so…

1 Peter 3:9 (New Living Translation)

Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.

Here is a little different contemplation on this verse. I usually read this as, “You want to hurt someone who hurts you? Bless them. That will get them!”

Let’s remove the bless as revenge thought. Instead, look at the fourth sentence:

That is what God has CALLED ME to do

Oh, ooops, er, uh… I am to bless those who insult me and such because God has called me to do that. No gain for me; no “burn” on the insulting person.

God has called me to do things. God has put me right here, right now to do things. I can see God tapping His fingers on the table and thinking, “Well, Dwayne. I’m waiting.”

Please God, help me to do what you have called me to do. Help me to recognize what you have called me to do. Help me to move and not try your patience.

James 1:2 (New Living Translation)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

This is one of the more annoying verses in the Bible. How did God put it in here?

I suppose I am to put the emphasis on the word opportunity. That way I don’t have to be joyous in times of trouble. I just have to look for the opportunity to be joyous.

This year, this Fall, we in the US have the Trump vs. Clinton “presidential” race. Joy? Nope. Opportunity? I’m still searching for that. God, help me to find the opportunity. As usual, help me in my unbelief.

Lamentations 3:44 (New Living Translation)

You have hidden yourself in a cloud
so our prayers cannot reach you.

The writer is lamenting the sorrowful state of God’s people. This verse gives one of the more awful things that has happened.

The prayers of the people cannot reach God.

Imagine we all have a new revelation from God. For the time being, prayers are ignored. Would that mean anything to me? Would it bother me? Would I feel a loss?

I would. That is not a boast, but I don’t know what would be an adequate replacement for prayer. Thank you God for not hiding in a cloud.

James 5:19-20 (New Living Translation)

19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, 20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

One way that I consider the Christian life is a walk. Jesus is walking along a faint path. There are many faint paths leading all sorts of places. If I keep my eyes on Jesus, I walk after him along the path He is on. Sometimes I walk closer to Jesus and sometimes I lose sight of Him a bit and don’t walk as close. I guess idea goes back to the story “Pilgrim’s Progress” or something I heard as a child.

These verses fit with the idea of walking after Jesus. Someone wanders, i.e., the go on another path for a while. They have wandered off the path Jesus is walking; they have wandered from the truth. Someone should go find them and bring them back to the path of Jesus.

This is difficult as the person simply may not want to come back the path of Jesus.

This can be dangerous as my chasing after the wander may lead me so far from the path of Jesus that I cannot find my way back to Him. Consider, however, the reward—saving the person from death. Worth the risk? Yes. So why don’t I do this more often? God, please help me in my unbelief.

Ezekiel 21:21 (New Living Translation)

The king of Babylon now stands at the fork, uncertain whether to attack Jerusalem or Rabbah. He calls his magicians to look for omens. They cast lots by shaking arrows from the quiver. They inspect the livers of animal sacrifices.

The King of Babylon needed advice from his advisors, a.k.a., magicians. What do the advisors do? They inspect the livers of animal sacrifices.

Sounds silly, but the King of Babylon had quite a successful kingdom. They had riches, palaces, sciences, education (for some), and lots of conquered territory. Who is to argue with success? If the King’s advisors looked at livers of dead animals, well, it must have been working.

No, it still sounds silly. Yet, given the success surrounding the silliness, people everywhere were attracted to such. These people included the special people chosen by God. They had to delve into such practices because, well, those practices seemed to work and were used by people who were successful and educated and, well, we keep coming back to the successful part.

Today? Does silliness seem attractive. Well, success still seems attractive and lots of successful people do things that are silly and downright unrighteous. Tempting? Of course these sometimes silly and often times unrighteous practices of the successful are tempting.

That “straight and narrow” stuff still applies.