Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – Esther 4
Set – Esther 4; Luke 18
Go! – Esther 3-8; Luke 18
Esther 4
1 Mordecai mourned when he found out what had happened. He ripped his clothes, put on sackcloth, and wiped ash onto his body. Then he went through the city, weeping loudly in anguish. 2 When he came to the king’s gate, not far from the palace, he stopped since those wearing sackcloth were not permitted to enter it and disrupt the mood of the court.
3 In the meantime, as word of the king’s decree began to spread throughout all of the provinces, terrible distress grew among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and screamed out in misery. Like Mordecai, many put on sackcloth and ashes.
4 Back in Susa, Esther’s maids and eunuchs witnessed Mordecai mourning outside of the king’s gate. They went and reported to the queen all that they saw.
Esther: What is wrong? Why is he doing this? It breaks my heart to think of him like this. Take these clothes to Mordecai so he can put them on instead of wearing sackcloth.
But when the servants arrived, Mordecai refused to wear the clothes Queen Esther had sent. 5 So Esther sent for Hathach, who was one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to serve her.
Esther: Hathach, go to Mordecai at once. Find out why he is mourning, and report back to me all that he says.
6 Hathach went to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told the queen’s servant everything that had happened and how much money Haman had pledged to place into the royal treasury in exchange for the destruction of the Jews. 8 Then he gave Hathach a copy of the order for mass murder of the Jews, the same order issued in the city of Susa.
Mordecai: Show it to Esther. Tell her everything I have told you. Convince her to go before her king and plead for his favor, not only for her life, but also for the lives of her people.
9 Hathach returned to Esther and told her everything Mordecai had said. 10 Esther ordered Hathach to return to the city gate and reply to Mordecai.
Esther: 11 How am I supposed to see the king? It’s known throughout the land, from the greatest of the king’s officials to the common folk who live in the provinces, that any person who approaches the king in the inner chamber without being invited is sentenced to death. That’s the law! There’s only one exception, and that’s if the king were to hold out the gold scepter to that person and spare his or her life. It’s been 30 days since the king last summoned me!
12 Hathach and the other servants took Esther’s response to Mordecai.
Mordecai: 13 Tell Esther, “Don’t be fooled. Just because you are living inside the king’s palace doesn’t mean that you out of all of the Jews will escape the carnage. You must go before your king. 14 If you stay silent during this time, deliverance for the Jews will come from somewhere, but you, my child, and all of your father’s family will die. And who knows? Perhaps you have been made queen for such a time as this.”
15 Once again, Hathach returned to Queen Esther with Mordecai’s message. In turn she sent a reply back to Mordecai.
Esther: Tell Mordecai, 16 “In preparation for my audience with the king, do this: gather together all the Jews in Susa, and fast and pray for me. Intercede for me. For three days and nights, abstain from all food and drink. My maids and I will join you in this time. And after the three days, I will go in to the king and plead my people’s case, even though it means breaking the law. And if I die, then I die!”
17 Mordecai left the king’s gate and put all of Esther’s instructions into action.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Mordecai gave sage advice to his niece, Esther. “Perhaps you have been made queen for such a time as this.” I made you with a purpose in mind. I created you at the perfect time in history. I put you in just the right place and time to accomplish the tasks I had in store for you. It’s not a mistake that you have the parents you have or live in the place you live. Certainly some of the choices that were made along the line were not My choices, but I still allowed them to happen and none of the choices surprised Me.
I can still accomplished My plans through you if you will submit yourself to My will. You see, I can take the worst case scenarios and turn them into days of feasting and celebration as I did with Purim for the Jews. I accomplished that change through the faithfulness of a man named Mordecai and his niece, Esther. Neither expected to become instrumental in the salvation of their race as a people, but they were because of their faithfulness.
You never know how I will use the events in which you find yourself to change the circumstances and turn evil into good. You never know how I will reshape events to My will when you just obey Me and did the right thing. You just don’t know how I will work in the back ground to make sure My plans work out to rescue those who cannot defend themselve so that they suddenly become the victors against great odds to turn sorrow into joy and wailing into celebration.
Just try Me and see how I work behind the scenes in your life to make things work out in exceptional ways to see you through this life and the next.
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