Advent Week One: Jesus the Light

Advent Week 1, Day 1

Light one candle to celebrate Jesus as the Light.

Read: Isaiah 9:1-2

"In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan -- The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (9:1-2)

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Welcome to the 2008 Advent daily devotional. Advent is basically the season we call "Christmas." More specifically, it is a traditional counting down of the four weeks preceding Christmas Day, a period in which different attributes of Jesus are celebrated by the lighting of candles and reading of Scripture. The attributes and arrangement of candles varies based on tradition. Some people choose to line their candles up in a row using candlesticks while others place their candles in a circular wreath. This latter form is the most common in the Western world.


The advent candles have special symbolism to them. There are four taper candles to represent both the four centuries of waiting between Malachi's last prophecy and the birth of Christ as well as the four Sundays of Advent. A large white candle is placed in the middle to represent the Christ Child and is only lit on Christmas Day. It is white to reflect the holiness of Jesus. Three of the candles are purple to represent the royalty of Christ and a fourth is either pink or red to represent either Christ's humanity or His blood. The three purple candles are to be lit sequentially on the first three Sundays and the pink or red one on the fourth Sunday.

This year we will be celebrating four attributes of Christ, starting with the Light of Christ. Our first Advent passage is Isaiah 9:1-2, a hope-filled prophecy that comes after eight chapters of judgment and warning in Isaiah. Suddenly, after all the terrors of God's wrath are poured out on Israel and its neighbors there would come a light in the darkness. A ray of hope. A silver lining. The people of Galilee will see a great light. From Galilee the messiah would be known. And the reign of darkness will end. O glorious light!

Be God's.

Proverbs of the Wise

OT: Proverbs
NT: Matthew 13

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Proverbs 1:8-9 — The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young — let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance — for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Everything you need to know about the meaning and purpose of Solomon's Proverbs can be found in its opening verses. The book exists as a collection of wise sayings and truthful analogies, mostly from the wisest man to ever live, Solomon, King of Israel. Proverbs is a book rich in its truth and color. It would take us years to fully study its many facets. Alas, I have chosen to spend only one devotional entry on it because there is so much more left in the Old Testament to explore and if we tally here, we may lose the heart to finish the canon!

Wisdom and folly are the two overriding themes in Proverbs. What defines a wise man? What reveals the fool? Solomon's conclusion is the same as Job, Moses, and every other theologian that has ever lived: fear the Lord and keep His commandments. Doing so will lead to a good life. Forsaking the Lord will lead to only ruin and despair. Oh, it sure looks good to do what the world wants but in the end, as Solomon would say in Ecclesiastes, it is "meaningless!" So choose the way of wisdom. And find your life all the better for it.

Be God's.

The Great Hallal: Creation's Call to Praise

One of my heroes, St. Francis, at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden

OT: Psalms 107-150 (Book 5)
NT: Luke 19:28-40

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Psalm 148:1-6 — Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created. He established them forever and ever; he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Psalm 148 is often called "The Great Hallal" because the Hebrew word for praise, hallal, occurs 12 times in its 14 verses. No other psalm is like it, save for the last one, psalm 150. The psalm itself is a marvel to me every time I read it. In its blessed lines, an unknown author calls upon all of God's creation to praise the Almighty. The poet starts by calling on the heavens and then moves to the things of earth — the animals and fish, the weather and the terrain, and then men of all ages and genders. Nothing that exists is excluded from the call to praise the Lord. It was psalms like this one that gave great inspiration to St. Francis of Assisi, who penned his famous hymn over 700 years ago, "All Creatures of Our God and King."

It boggles the rational mind that anything inanimate could praise the Lord. after all, we can't prove it with science or math. But Scripture is clear on this point: even inanimate objects that we think of as being without person can praise the Lord. How is this possible? It's a mystery, for sure! Remember when Jesus was coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? The Pharisees wanted Him to make his followers stop praising Him. But Jesus replied, "I tell you, if these (people) become silent, the stones will cry out!" You see, all of creation exists to glorify God. Even rocks and trees, the beast of the seas, from flower to fawn, until eternity's dawn.

Be God's.

God of Our Days

OT: Psalms 90-106 (Book 4)
NT: James 4:13-16

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Psalm 90:1-4, 9-10 — A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. / Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. / You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” / For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh. / The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; / even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away."

Do you know how long you will live? If so, how do you know? I saw a TV news story the other day about the longevity of life. The story said that scientists are close to discovering a way for people to live until they reach 125 years old. The secret is in the calories, one doctor said. People who eat fewer calories and less meat live longer.

God's word says that none of us can number our days. We just do not know. Death comes upon us quickly. We cannot plan it unless we take our own life. And that's a whole other issue. No, only God knows exactly how many minutes and seconds we will live. He even knows the number of hairs on our head and the number of stars in the heavens. Can you count the hairs on your head (assuming you have hair there, of course)? So why do we worry about longevity when we should be focused on quality. None of us knows when the Lord will call us home, so make each day count -- live it for Him.

Be God's.

The Nearness of God

OT: Psalms 73-89 (Book 3)
NT: Acts 17:22-28

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Psalm 73:21-28 — When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, / I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. / Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. / You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. / Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. / My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. / Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. / But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.


What is your perception of the nearness of God? Do you believe He is near to you -- right by your very side -- or do you think He is in heaven somewhere, sitting high and above everyone and everything? Does He really care about the mundane things in your life? Or does He only "sweat the big stuff?" How we perceive the nearness of God determines how we act when the trials of life draw near to us. Our concept of God's concern dictates whether or not we turn to Him in prayer and supplication. After all, why would I want to pray to a God I don't believe hears me or cares about me? But if I truly believe He is a God who is near to me and wants to hear me when I'm hurting, distressed, or just plain distraught, then I find it easier to pray.

Truly the nearness of God is our good, as Asaph says in Psalm 73. Paul told the Athenian philosophers on Mars Hill that God is right next to each one of us -- waiting for us to reach out to Him. We don't need some special piety or some secret ceremony to contact God. We just need to speak. And He will hear us.

Be God's.

The Thirst of the Soul

OT: Psalm 42-72 (Book 2)
NT: John 7

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Psalm 42:1; 63:1 — As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. / My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. / When shall I come and behold the face of God? // O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; / my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Have you ever been so thirsty that you would even drink the foulest liquid on earth? I remember one hike recently on a local trail when I misjudged the distance to our exit point and my companion and I got stuck on a trail in 100-degree heat. We hiked for what felt like hours and our limited water supply ran low. Eventually, all that remained as the day heated up was a few tablespoons of warm, stale water. it was misery. But it was all we had left. Our thirst drove us mad! Eventually, we came across an old water fountain that, thankfully, still worked and we both took our sweet time gulping down the liquid as if it were more than just H2O.

The psalmists sometimes paint their desire for God like the thirst of a deer, or of a stranded hiker looking for an oasis in the midst of a desert. They really badly want to go to the Temple to seek God or hear a word from Him. They want to drink in His truth, or maybe bathe in His glorious presence like a bird splashing in a roadside puddle. So it was with us when we first came to now Jesus Christ. Part of living life outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ is the constant thirst for eternal significance and personal satisfaction. People who don't know Him are searching for something spiritual that is missing from their lives. Some people fill it with physical elements, like money or fame, but nothing material can satisfy an eternal longing. Jesus said "I AM the water of life" and that anyone who comes to Him will find the eternal identity for which they were thirsting. They will find forgiveness for their own sin, they will find life in the risen Savior, and they will find identity in the Body of Christ.

Have you come to Jesus and drunk of the eternal water He has to give? Or are you still searching for eternal significance?

Be God's.

Psalm 3: Peaceful Sleep

OT: Psalms 1-41 (Book 1)
NT: Philippians 4:6-7

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Psalm 3: O LORD, how many are my foes! / How many rise up against me! / Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah / But you are a shield around me, O LORD / you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. / To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah / I lie down and sleep / I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. / I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.

There's something very unsettling about the darkness. It surrounds me like a blanket around the time I go home from work, and it blinds my vision to the world around me like blinders on a horse. It makes me drive my car with caution and walk my street with uneasiness. The darkness is just plain scary to me. What is even more unsettling is the fact that the darkness covers many ungodly deeds -- crimes and deceptions among them -- deeds that may threaten to affect you or me. I cannot see what happens outside my little light field. My porch light can only shine so far. And when I go to sleep, I am vulnerable to those deeds of darkness in a new way -- for I cannot prevent them nor stop them once they happen.

So I pray for safety for not only myself but also my loved ones. That the dawn may bring me news that we all made it through the night in safety. And we usually do. Because the Lord sustains us. I wake every morning after a night of sleep knowing that the sovereign Lord was protecting me that night. That He, as it says in Psalm 122, "never sleeps nor slumbers." He is always on guard. So I can sleep peacefully at night because God is my High Protector. And I don't have to fear the darkness and the tens of thousands of potential threats it brings each night because the Lord is watching me. There is a nighttime prayer from the Book of Common Prayer that I love to repeat at night right before I go to sleep. It goes, "Guide me waking and guard me sleeping / that awake I may watch with Christ and at night I may rest in peace."

Be God's.

P.S. -- My wonderful girlfriend took this photo of one of her felines, Oliver, tonight. Fits the topic well, doesn't it?

The Keeper of Heaven & Earth

OT: Job 38-42
NT: Revelation 4

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Job 38:22-30 — "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, / which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? / What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? / Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, / to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life, / to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass? / Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? / From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the frost of heaven? / The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen."

How great is our God! So often we think of God as being this little old man with a long white beard sitting on a golden throne and tallying our rights and wrongs on a chalkboard. We think of God as being more like Santa Claus, a gift giver to good little girls and boys, or as a vengeful, out-to-get-ya, kind of being. But Scripture paints a much grander picture of God. A picture that can only be described in poetry or simile. And can only be accurately described by God Himself. And we largely fail to take this picture of God into mind when we approach His word or His Church. I fear that we have largely failed in the Protestant church to celebrate the mystery and grandeur of God. We tend to lean towards the "God-as-my-best-friend" side of the relationship scale and not see Him as the sovereign, divine, all-powerful, ever-present Spirit who created all things by the power of His word.

God in the final "act" of Job sets the patriarch straight. Neither Job or his friends knew why Job was suffering. Only God knew. And to speculate as to a reason — without divine revelation — was to assume knowledge that none but God possessed. Job did not suffer because of his wickedness. Nor did he suffer so he could better appreciate his life. God's point is that only He can see the hidden things of this world — including the knowledge to lofty for mankind. It is that God is God and we are not. And His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts (Isa 55:9). And to assume one thing or another about why we are where we are is to assume what we cannot know. So we need to just accept it and move on. Job eventually did. And God blessed him as a result.

Be God's.

Of Empty Cries & Lullabies

OT: Job 32-37
NT: Hebrews 10:19-25

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Job 35:9-13 — [Elihu continued and said,] “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; / they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. / But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, / who gives strength in the night, / who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, / and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’ / There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers. / Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.

Is there such a thing as an empty cry? Is it true that God will ignore our prayer? That He will not even hear it? If so, then we are surely in trouble! But Job's young friend Elihu speaks of what he does not know, as the Lord would say in the first verse of chapter 38. The Lord does hear the cries of men. He does weigh them on a scale. And He will act as He wills. Does the Lord have to pay heed to the cries of the wicked? No. He's not obligated to pay attention to them. But He WILL always hear the cries of the righteous ones -- of those found to be in Christ. If you and I have believed in Jesus, we have been found righteous through His blood, and we are able to approach God's throne in prayer with great confidence, knowing that our loving Heavenly Father will hear us.

Isn't that wonderful?

Be God's.

Wisdom's Maker

OT: Job 27-31
NT: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

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Job 28:12-15, 20-24, 28 — But where shall wisdom be found? / And where is the place of understanding? / Mortals do not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living. /The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ / It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.

“Where then does wisdom come from? / And where is the place of understanding? / It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. / Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ / “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. / For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens. / And he said to humankind, ‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.’”

Does someone you know think they know more than anyone else knows? Are they so confident in their education, their research, or their instincts that they believe they are qualified to answer any question? Solve any problem? One of the great lies in Western Christianity is the lie that says "with knowledge comes wisdom." In other words, the more you know, the better your decisions will be. It's a great lie. And we love to stake our entire education upon its principle. But does knowledge equate wisdom? Is a wise man truly "wise?" Job wondered about this and he found his answer to be: "not necessarily." Wisdom is not something you can mine for, he writes in chapter 28, nor something you can buy. It does not come by our great effort or our great education. No, wisdom comes from God and only God can give it away.

The Scripture is very clear in this one truth: To be wise is to fear the Lord. To fear the Lord is to obey Him, to keep His precepts. If one lives in accordance to the commands of Christ Jesus, God's Son, he or she will be given wisdom from God. Plain and true. The more you walk with Christ -- regardless of your education -- the wiser you will be. For you will have tested the words of the Lord and found them to be true and trustworthy. You will have held onto the promises of Christ as your hope. You will have walked by the Holy Spirit and gained wisdom through the experiences of that walk. I know of many dear saints of God who never went to college and yet have more wisdom in their thumb than I have in my highly educated brain. Why? They have a lifetime of walking by the Spirit that has been rewarded by the Maker of Wisdom. And it is He who really matters.

Be God's.

The Yearning of the Heart

OT: Job 18-26
NT: 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

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Job 19:25-27 -- I know that my Redeemer lives, / and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. / And after my skin has been destroyed, / yet in my flesh I will see God; / I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. / How my heart yearns within me!

It is a sad thing to lose hope. I'm reminded of a sailor who resigns himself to death when the waters rage high and his boat starts to fill and he cannot see land. "I am ruined!" he declares. "My death will be for naught!" He has lost hope. So he sees nothing but death. Hope keeps us afloat. It is what keeps that sailor treading water until help arrives. It is what kept Job going during his great ordeal. He didn't understand why God was allowing him to suffer but he had hope that he would one day see God face-to-face, and that God would one day reign on the earth.

What Job experienced in his suffering is what I call the "yearning of the heart." It is that soul-deep longing to see God, to speak with him face-to-face, to fall down at His feet. It is a longing to be anywhere but earth, a desire beyond words. Job was longing to see the Lord in his body, even though he knew that time and disease would try to destroy his body. I think that's what he means by "after my skin has been destroyed." Yet Job held on to the hope that even though his suffering was painful and very real, he would one day see God. And he could not wait for that day! Can you?

Be God's.

How Can a Man Be Just?

OT: Job 9-17
NT: Romans 4-5

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Job 8:20; 9:1-3 — "[Bildad the Shuhite said:] See, God will not reject a blameless person, / nor take the hand of evildoers. / Then Job answered: “Indeed I know that this is so; / but how can a mortal be just before God? / If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand."

The question of righteousness or justice permeates every part of human society. We all want to be right. Even more, we all want to set the standard of being right. And then impose that righteousness on everyone else! But what does it take to be right in the eyes of One who is perfect? This is Job's question here. How can a mere man be blameless before God? Job was suffering great trial for a cause unknown. He looked back on his life and everything was going right. He has a good wife, many kids, many flocks and herds and, thus, was a very wealthy man. But it was almost all taken away from him by Satan, who was allowed by God to test Job's faith.

Psalms 14 clues us in to the answer for Job's question. David says that the Lord looks down on mankind to see if there are any of us who are righteous, who are seeking God first, and he sees only wicked men who are fallen. All have turned away. There is none righteous. As a result, mankind was in need of another righteousness — the perfection of one who is more than a man. And so God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life on earth, purchase our salvation on the cross, rise from the dead, and give us His righteousness if we'd only believe in Him. Once we believe in Jesus, His righteousness is automatically transfered to us, and we are now seen as being just in God's sight. How glorious is that!

Be God's.

The Suffering Song

OT: Job 3-8
NT: James 1

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Job 3:20-24 — Why is light given to one in misery / and life to the bitter in soul / who long for death, but it does not come / and dig for it more than for hidden treasures / who rejoice exceedingly / and are glad when they find the grave? / Why is light given to one who cannot see the way / whom God has fenced in? / For my sighing comes like my bread / and my groanings are poured out like water.

Have you ever wondered why many who suffer in life cannot seem to dig themselves out of their misery? They pray and pray, scrape and scrape, and yet they stay in misery. I know the situation very well. Been there, prayed that. Yet I stayed in my situation. No matter how much I cried out to the Lord, He seemed not to care. Job thought the same thing, times 10.

The Lord's ways are mysteries to us. He is the sovereign God of the universe whose smallest thoughts are deeper than our greatest notions. He cares for His children yet He sometimes allows us to suffer on this planet. Why? It has nothing to do with His love for us. He loves us as a father. One answer the Scriptures give is that we often find ourselves in trials and tribulations so that our faith in God's provision may be strengthened and our deliverance may be claimed by the Lord and not ourselves. In both cases, we eventually find ourselves safe in the hands of our Savior.

Be God's.

Job's Really Bad Day

OT: Job 1-2
NT:

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Job 1:13-22 — One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Ever have "one of those days"? You know, when everything seems to go wrong or become more difficult than it seems like it should be? I dare say that we all have them. But I also dare say that none compare to the "one of those days" that Job had. The first chapter of Job is a mystery in the biblical canon. It starts out like a fairy tale "once upon a time..." and contains a strange discourse between God and Satan in which Satan challenges God to let him test Job's faith. God agrees and Satan wrecks Job's life with "one of those days."

So Job lost nearly everything he had, save for his wife and his life, and was devastated. Wouldn't you be? Sitting with boils on his body and disbelief on his mind, Job's wife tells him to curse God and die as a result. After all, Job must have done something wrong to merit such punishment from God! This quandary — the role of suffering and faith — is the theme of the rest of the book. Is God just? If so, why does He allow the righteous to suffer along with the wicked? The answer comes with a thud in the end: God IS just and right and He DOES take care of His faithful ones. But why does suffering happen? Why does God seem to "pick and choose" which persons to help and which ones to ignore? The answers are never easy but they are important. And they are the goal of Job's quest throughout the remainder of this book.

Be God's.

A Day of Rest

I'm taking a day of rest on this Sunday to recharge my batteries and gear up for the next stage of the Devotion's journey: the Wisdom literature.

So far we have made quite a bit of progress since I started journaling my way through the Bible in July of 2007. I still remember Genesis with fondness even though it was over 16 months ago! The history of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament spans from the calling of Abraham in 2200 BC or so to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in the 430s BC. The Scripture goes silent over the next 400 years, though God was not finished working with Israel. For a hundred more years Persia ruled over Judah, the southern province that once was a nation, then came Alexander the Great of Greece in the 330's. When Alexander died, his four generals divided the kingdom and Judah fell under the dynasty of one of them. Things got really bad in 165 BC when a Greek ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes decided to enter the holy of holies in Jerusalem and, thus, committed the "abomination that causes desolation" prophesied in Daniel. That action led to a Jewish revolt against Antiochus led by the Maccabees family that earned freedom for Israel. But freedom was short lived. Rome was emerging as a world power and through an effort to secure the nation with Roman help, the Jews lost their independence. Pompey marched through Jerusalem and Israel fell under Roman rule up through the opening of the Gospels.

But there was much more written than a few history books in the Old Testament period, so our journey will resume with good ole Job on Monday. We'll move through the "wisdom" literature and then to the prophets. Until then.... have a great Sunday!

Be God's!

-- Brother John

Esther & the God of Grace

OT: Esther 1-10
NT: 1 Timothy 5:1-8

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Esther 1:1, 2:5-7 — This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush... Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair... who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

The book of Esther is a mystery in the biblical canon. Nowhere in its 10 chapters is the name of God used -- nowhere is God even referenced. For this reason, many early Christians had trouble accepting Esther into the canon of Scripture. Of what value is a book that does not even mention God? The reason the story shows up in our Bibles is that there IS value to this tale about a Jewish girl born in a foreign land who rises to become queen of Persia and saves her people in Persia from genocide. Throughout its pages we see the grace of God in action, first grace upon the extended family of a Jew named Mordecai, and then grace upon a remnant of Judah that decided to stay in Persia rather than return to the Promised Land.

The story takes place after King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and set its captives free, including the Jews. At least two major migrations occurred back to the Holy Land, one led by Zerubbabel the royal heir and the other by Ezra the priest. But several groups of exiles decided to stay in their foreign lands. Mordecai was among the Persian settlers. An older man, Mordecai had adopted his young cousin Hadasseh (Esther), who had been orphaned and raised her as his daughter. In doing so, Mordecai showed Esther the grace of God. Later, Esther would rise to the position of queen of the court of Xerxes (King Ahaseurus, not Artaxerxes) through both crafty maneuvering by Mordecai and by her God-given beauty and grace. Through her position, Esther was able to sway the king's mind to save the Jews when Mordecai uncovered a dastardly plot by Haman, an official. Through her brave action, the grace of God was shown to the exiles in Persia and they were spared.

Esther is a neat book that still has value after 2,400 years. It's often relegated to women's studies, sadly, even though it has value for anybody.

Be God's.