Est. 6-8
I love the story of Esther! The poetic justice runs deep. It says in Psalm 7, “Behold, the wicked man conceives evil…His mischief returns upon his own head” (Ps 7:14a, 16a). It is a perfect description of what happened to Haman. But not only did his evil plot to kill Mordecai end up being his own fate, he was humiliated and forced to give Mordecai the honor that he wanted for himself. I find that ironic because essentially he was forced to demonstrate love to the man he hated most. In teaching His disciples how to love, Jesus made a statement that we now know as “The Golden Rule”. He said, “as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them” (Lk 6:31). That is exactly what Haman did – most unwillingly – when he gave Mordecai the honor that he thought was going to be his own.
So not only is the story of Esther full of poetic justice, but it is also ripe with life lessons. We see that God lifts up the humble but brings low the proud. We see the fate of the wicked and the preservation of God’s faithful. And we get the most unlikely demonstration of real love, albeit without the supporting attitude. God’s fingerprints are definitely all over this story.
Rev. 13
Two kind of small and random things jumped out at me when reading this passage this morning. The first was from Revelation 13:4b. “And they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’”. This made me think about what it means to worship something. The definition is to show reverence and to honor someone or something. But this verse makes me look a little deeper than that.
These people, in what they said, elevated the beast to the highest position, declaring that nothing was greater. Essentially, they put the beast in the position of God. So I think perhaps that any time we put something before God, we are worshiping it. Which means that any time we let something other than God direct our decisions, be it fear, pride, desire, or whatever, we are worshiping whatever is behind those feelings, because those things most certainly aren’t from God. It all makes me think that I need to take a step back and reexamine myself. I don’t think of myself as worshiping things, but it seems perhaps I do far more than I realize.
The other thought was just something I found interesting from Revelation 13:6. It says there that the beast was blaspheming God and His dwelling, “that is, those who dwell in heaven”. There is a note in the ESV translation that says an alternate word for “dwelling’ is “tabernacle”. We know from the teachings of the Apostles that, as believers, our bodies are God’s Temple, because we have been made one with Christ. So John’s statement confirms us – “those who dwell in heaven” – as God’s dwelling place. How cool is that?