Women of Warren Vlog – Timing is Everything

well good morning happy Monday morning and thank you so much for joining me here and thank you to all of you who take time to share that you watch these and spend time listening to them I'm so glad that they are an encouragement to you oftentimes really what we share is what Jacqueline and I share is just things that God is teaching us throughout the week. And so I pray that he is molding and shaping you. And like we talked about last week, that you are being pruned in his word as you seek his word. So this week, actually, this literally comes from just a Bible study that I have been doing with, I have a little book club. And we decided to do the book of esther throughout the summer and um one of the very first lessons just kind of jumped out at me it's one of those where um the bible is just setting the scene literally just setting the scene and i um for some reason you know and sometimes those little nuggets god just hits you with a few things that make you think a little bit differently um about scripture or just to dig in a little bit deeper to set the scene in your own mind to um remember that these are real people with real events real life events happening and occurring at that time and so um at the beginning of the book of esther so this is not even getting into the full story um we see we meet the king has has a hazard okay see i'm stumbling with that name um that's the hebrew name xerxes uses the Greek and so I'm probably just going to use Xerxes just so you don't have to listen to me stumble this whole time but we get this picture of just this extravagance and this opulence that's happening in his palace and so I'm just going to read this and it's going to be juxtaposed when we're introduced to our next character Mordecai and I want what I want you to think about is how we ourselves, you know, we don't want to take scripture out of context, but I want you to think about the Jews at this day and time who are in exile. They, um, they're exiled, um, into Babylon and how they are having to live in a culture that is counterculture to them. And so I just want you to listen to this beginning um opening passage and just see if you see any similarities to our culture at all that we are living in today so it says now in the days of xerxes the xerxes who reigned from india to ethiopia over 127 provinces in those days when king is king xerxes sat on his royal throne in susa the citadel in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants the army of persia and media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days 180 days and when these days were completed the king gave for all the people present in susa the citadel both great and small a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace there were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry marble mother of pearl and precious stones drinks were served in golden vessels vessels of different kinds and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king and drinking was according to this edict there is no compulsion for the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired so there's just this extravagance and opulence and just um it makes me think of reading a fantasy book and the author takes all this time to go into detail about setting the scene what was this the majesty of this palace and um I actually did a little bit of digging and so think about it 180 day feast that's nearly half a year of celebration of just look at how grand I am and then also the palace itself which has been excavated pieces of it excavated they believe that it was 11 900 squared meters or meters squared and that's actually about three acres so just take a moment to think about how large this palace is a three acre palace that's just this room that's just this this this hall this giant place where this feast is happening so you have three acres worth so now thinking of that scene and as we know if you've read the book of esther after that we have queen vashti and she denies coming in front of the king and this sets about circumstances um that then esther is then brought to the palace along with a bunch of other young women and we'll see all you know we'll see all of that and if you want to read the rest of that story but i just want you to focus so we have a man xerxes who's this great king and then we have another man named mordecai and i want you to just see the difference of his introduction compared to Xerxes. And so in Esther 2 verses 5 through 8, it says, now there was a Jew in Susa, the citadel, so same place, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jer, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jehoiakim, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Haggai, Esther was also taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Haggai, who had charge of the women and so that's setting the scene for a much greater story a much larger story that goes on with esther saving the jewish people but i just want you to look at the difference the difference here with king xerxes sitting on his royal throne in the citadel celebrating the third year of his reign with 180 day feast and then you simply have mordecai and it lists his family genealogy and it lists that he's a man of honor because he took in his cousin who was a young cousin who um didn't have anyone to take care of her and so it made me wonder you know as we're looking at this scene the bible has set aside set up this entire scene this entire set of circumstances that has brought mordecai and esther into juxtaposition with this king who is so grand he had a 180 day feast to celebrate himself and you'll know later esther has esther there's a very famous scripture that's for such a time as this and it made me wonder about the times of life where we are placed in particular situations to be lights for the kingdom of God in areas that are counter-cultural to, or we are counter-cultural to what is going on. So it just made me think, and I want you to just sit and think today, what would the introduction for you be if you were in this story? you know, um, you know, I'm just off the top of my head and be Megan, the daughter of Bill and Christine. I mean, I don't know. There's, there's no tribe of Rousher, but you know what I mean? It's not, it's not something like that, but what would be my introduction? Would it be, what would be your introduction? It would not be this 180 day feast. What would be the things that would be listed? You know, it makes me think of Hebrew 11 and the hall of faith as it's called, you know each one of those um characters but people of true events are listed in a way that is simple and succinct you know um by faith abraham and it says what he did by faith sarah and it says what she did and going on and so what are the actions that are taking place in your life that would be by faith Megan x y and z or by faith Catherine I know you watch these by faith Catherine you know x y and z what would be the introduction of you in that hall of faith or in something like the book of Esther and again not trying to put ourselves in scripture but just really thinking about how God has placed us exactly where we are to be counter to the culture that is all around us because this whole thing with King Xerxes, does it not sound similar to how our culture is? We could spend, I mean, we spend whole months celebrating things that are not good, that are filled with, you know, becomes particular months that our culture will celebrate and we're counter-cultural to that. But how do we step into that loving people and maybe being a light rather than just a pointing finger and saying, you know, and accusing, but rather being a light and showing that there is a different way and that way is Jesus. So I want you to think about that today. I want you to think about where exactly you have been placed in life and where God has put you. If God has placed you somewhere specifically that is filled with culture and how you can be counter-cultural in love, in the love of Christ. So take time today to think about that and ask god to open your eyes to it and um just see what he will do with you you know because mordecai and esther they were exiles in the land of babylon and yet and yet god used them in a very particular way to save his people and to shine his light at a time where jesus wasn't even on the horizon yet quite on the horizon yet there was the the calling of the messiah would one day appear but they're not even in their home and yet they're living counter-cultural and clinging to god even while in exile so i want you to think about that today i want you to take time and pray and ask god what areas you could be used in um to be a shining light against the way that our culture is. So I hope that encourages you today and take time to pray. Thank you so much.

Originally published at warren.church.