How Do You Handle the Difficult Situations of Life, Part 2

Scripture: Esther 4:6-12

So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.  Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai: “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.” They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.

Insights: In today’s verses we see Mordechai receiving Hathach as an answer to his prayers.  In other words, Mordechai saw Hathach as the Lord working in the midst of his trial.  When the Lord is clearly working in your midst you need to respond in such a fashion.  Often times we begin to doubt or we let fear grip our hearts and render us paralyzed from action.  We must learn to respond like Mordechai and obediently follow after the Lord’s involvement in our lives.  He told Hathach to tell Esther everything that had transpired and even given her a commission of activity to do in order to help the Jewish people.  There is a second thing we observe in these verses today and that comes from the standpoint of Esther.  She began to make excuses as to why she was incapable of assisting in this particular crisis.  Beloved, we all, too often, respond like Esther.  This kind of hesitant response is not because we don't care or that we don’t want to get involved.  The real issue is fear.  We become struck by fear and begin to pull away from the individual in crisis.  We make excuses and then talk about the sad state of the individual in our safe little communities.  God forgive us for such a response.  We have all made those kind of excuses, but let me encourage you to keep returning this week to my blog and see what the final outcome of this scene really is, because it can be life changing.

Questions:

1. When the Lord begins to move in the midst of your trail, what do you do?

2.  Do you offer excuses as to why you won’t help one in the midst of his/her trial?

Prayer: Father, make me pliable in Your hands and to recognize Your activity.  Don’t let me make excuses as to why we cannot help those in need.  Amen.

How Do You Handle the Difficult Situations of Life, Part 1

Scripture: Esther 4:1-5

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.  Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.

Insights: This week’s Thoughts by Scott will be a serious of questions dealing with difficult situations and trails in our lives as well as in the lives of those around us.  Let me quickly set the scene for this weeks verses.  Esther won a beauty pageant and became queen.  The vile Haman has outlined a plan to exterminate the Jews and the king has signed off on it.  Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, has heard of the decree and responds with the verses we read today.  Notice with me that Mordecai has turned to the Lord in this time of crisis.  He is weeping and wailing while fasting and sitting in ash with sackcloths on his body.  The fasting indicated that he has turned his attention to the Lord as the only One who can rescue him from his present predicament.  We also see in these verses that Esther, even though she was incapable of going personally to find out what had happened to Mordecai, has sent a messenger to bring her news.  She was deeply concerned about her cousin’s well being.  It is note worthy to mention that Mordecai had raised Esther since she was a little girl.  He was for all practical purposes, her father figure.  Beloved, in these verse we see two truths that ought to be applied to our lives as well.  Firstly, when we are in difficult situations, we ought to turn to the Lord for help.  Secondly, when we see others in difficult situations, we ought to inquire of them directly and see if there is any way we can help assist them in their time of crisis.  Let us honor the Lord with our faith and trust in Him and our compassion for those in distress.

Questions:

1.  To whom do you turn when trials come?

2.  How do you respond to the trials of others?

Prayer: Father, when trials come my way, grant me the grace to turn to You quickly and when I watch others going through a trial, let me be a blessing to them, not a hinderance.  Amen.

God Intends for Purpose to Result from the Rebuilding: Glory, Peace and Blessing

Scripture: Haggai 2:9 & 19c

‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts….Yet from this day on I will bless you.’” 

Insights: Yesterday we learned that God intended for His rebuilding to have purpose that produced results.  Today we will look at three of those results.  First, the first part of verse nine tells us that this second temple would have greater glory than the first.  Now what is interesting is that when the second temple was completed those who had remembered the first wept because of how small it was in comparison to the first.  Yet the Lord is telling them that it was not about the size, but rather about what was done in the temple that mattered.  In this second temple the people would be more faithful and God’s glory would be reflected more.  Second, the second part of verse nine tells us that we would be given peace.  I tell people all of the time, “If you are questioning your salvation, ask the Lord if you have His peace and joy in your heart.  He will always answer this prayer.”  Third, the last part of verse nineteen tells us that he will bless us.  In the preceding verses God was telling the people the reason their crops were failing was because they had rejected God and had served themselves (you will remember that on Tuesday I mentioned that they had stolen all of the building materials to build their own homes rather than the temple).  God tells them, if they will humble themselves and repent, then He would indeed bless them.  This concept of blessing has come up the past two weeks.  Remember from last week that the blessing I am referencing is not the same as that propagated by Joel and Victoria Olsten or the rest of the Word of Faith personalities.  I am referencing biblical blessing which will take on the form of joy and peace.  It will be contentment in the things of God.  Is it true that sometimes the blessing is financial?  The answer is obviously, “yes.”  We, especially as Americans, focus more on the financial blessing than we do on the relational blessing found in being a child of the One True King.  Let the Lord’s rebuilding of your heart result in glory, peace and blessing!  May His name be praised.

Questions:

1.  In what ways are God’s glory, peace and blessings on your life being made evident to a watching world?

2.  Are you personally recognizing God’s glory, peace and blessing in your life?

Prayer: Father, thank You for your glory, peace and blessing.  Help me to truly be mindful of Your activity in my life.  I desire for others to see this transformation and wonder what makes my life different from theirs.  Let me then have the courage to tell them about Jesus.  Amen.

God Intends for Purpose to Result from the Rebuilding

Scripture: Haggai 2:23

‘On that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you,’” declares the Lord of hosts.

Insights: In today’s verse we see the third part of God’s rebuilding program of His temple.  Now remember this book was written about a literal temple that was about to be built, but I am using these same principles to apply to our spiritual lives.  We, if we are indeed born again, are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  He dwells within us.  This last part of the rebuilding program is to let us know that God intends for His rebuilding to result in some kind of purpose.  In Haggai’s day, God commissioned Zerubbabel for a task.  The Lord tells him that he is going to be like His signet ring.  In other words, the king would use his signet ring to authenticate his edicts of law and his orders of military command.  He also used this ring to announce his correspondence to others.  The point is that whether the king was authenticating, ordering or announcing something he had a distinct purpose every time he used his signet ring.  God is telling Zerubbabel that He has a specific task for him to complete and God is the authorizing the work to be done.  Beloved, the Lord does the same thing for all of His children who are born again.  We were not saved to sit in our pews and grow fat and happy.  We were saved to serve Him and to bring honor, glory and praise to Him.  Many of us serve, but we do it with a heart that is not rejoicing, but capitulating instead.  Our service ought to be with our whole heart and with joy at the prospect of pointing other people to our gracious Savior.  Beloved, let us serve Him well because He has a purpose for our lives.  Seek Him with all of your heart and He will reveal His commission to you.

Questions:

1.  In what task has the Lord commissioned you to participate?

2.  Are you performing your responsibilities as unto the Lord or begrudgingly?

Prayer: Father, You are the One who commissions me to service and I am grateful.  Let me serve You in such a fashion that You are brought glory.  Amen.

God Inspects the Materials Used for Rebuilding

Scripture: Haggai 2:15

But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord,

Insights: In today’s verse the Lord tells us to consider from this day onward what kind of stones we are placing before Him at the temple.  To understand this context you have to go back to verse ten and read through verse fourteen.  In this section the Lord is asking about holy objects and defiled objects.  The illustration runs like this: the Lord is the One who makes an object holy, but the holiness of the object does not make whatever touches that object holy.  The reason for this reality is because only the Lord can make it holy.  On the flip side, however, if you have a defiled object and it touches another object, then the object that was touched does become unholy.  After explaining this you come to verse fifteen and the Lord tells us to consider what we are offering to Him.  In other words, the Lord is inspecting the materials of the heart to determine if they are defiled or holy.  If our hearts are defiled, then it affects everything we do and offer to the Lord.  In our lives it gets played out this way: we enter into our corporate worship services without any planning or preparation.  In fact, many times, we have fought with our family all the way to church.  When we arrive, however, we put on our happy faces and go in and “worship” the Lord.  Now, we have not prepared our heart through prayer and confession because we were too rushed to put that in our plans.  As a result, we bring all kinds of defiled thoughts and attitudes into worship, and as a result, defile our worship before the Lord.  All we had to do was stop and pause for a moment and ask the Lord to examine our hearts.  If He revealed anything that was unholy, we then ought to confess it and then, and only then, enter into corporate worship.  At that point our offering would be inspected and received well because it reflects a heart truly set apart for the Lord.  Beloved, let me encourage you to slow down on Sundays.  Think and pray with the Lord before coming to church.  It may require you to get up fifteen to thirty minutes earlier, but it would be well worth it.  Slow down and prepare good materials to be offered to the Lord.

Questions:

1.  What does your heart reveal about the types of materials you are offering to the Lord?

2.  If you are offering defiled materials, are you willing to repent and begin offering materials of holiness to your Lord?

Prayer: Father, You inspect the offerings I bring to You.  You search my heart and know the truth of all I am and all I bring to You.  May my heart be pure and blameless.  May my offerings bring You honor and glory.  Amen.

God Initiates the Process of Rebuilding

Scripture: Haggai 1:14

So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

Insights: Haggai is one of my favorite minor prophets and his book is very applicable for us today.  To set the scene for you, king Cyrus sent the exiles from the Babylonian captivity back home in a few waves.  Ezra the priest was sent back in the first wave and is commissioned to start the rebuilding process of the Temple, however we are clearly told the rebuilding had stopped.  When Haggai returns, sixteen years later, God commissions him to get the rebuilding back on track.  Haggai gives us the reason the building had stopped in the fourth verse of chapter one and it was basically that the people had stolen all the construction material to build their own homes.  From that point on, they did nothing until the Spirit of the Lord stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant to begin work on the house of the Lord.  This biblical truth is still relevant today.  In other words, until the Lord God draws on a persons heart, they are not able to respond to the Father.  Until the Spirit moves our heart we are not able to serve the Lord.  Once, however, He begins to stir up our spirit, we have only one rightful response back to Him and that is, “Yes, Lord!”  It is an encouraging truth for a believer to understand that the commission of service is contingent on the Lord.  The reason this truth is encouraging is because that means the onus is on the Lord to provide the resources, power, and stirring to serve Him.  Now, we do, unfortunately, still have the freedom to reject all the Lord gives to us, but He supplies everything for us to succeed for Him and by His standards.  I emphasis His standards because His ways are not our ways and His view of success is obedience expressed by faith and not the results or outcomes.  He wants to see our heart reflecting His glory and pointing to His majesty.  We may fail in an earthly sense of the word success, but in His eyes we have performed beautifully.  I might also add here that when He calls, more often than not it is to succeed even by earthly standards.  Let us feel His presence and obediently respond with, “YES, LORD!”

Questions:

1.  Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

2.  If, you already have a relationship with Jesus, in what ministry is the Lord commissioning you to serve?

Prayer: Father, You are the One who starts any endeavor with You.  You lead me into salvation.  You guide me into service.  You empower me to be obedient.  It is all about You and Your glory.  May I never forget this reality.  Amen.

The Healing Power of the River

Scripture: Ezekiel 47:9-11

It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

Insights: The final part of God’s power is His healing power.  What I am specifically referring to is the way He takes us through the sanctification process.  The sanctification process is the Lord’s healing work in our lives.  He is taking us through a process that purges our sin nature.  This process really is for our healing and the Lord takes great pains to mold us into the image of Jesus.  We, however, often times fight against the Lord and try to maintain our autonomy and independence which leads us only to pain and suffering.  Beloved, the sooner we drink of the Lord’s living water from His river and allow Him the complete control of our lives the sooner we will reflect the glory of Jesus.  It is all about Him and the work He is doing in and through us for His glory.  Our lives become a testimony to His greatness and goodness.  Our lives display such transformation that a lost world begins to ask themselves what makes us so different.  They ask themselves why we face trials and successes differently than the rest of the world.  Because of the good response we give regarding Jesus’ healing work in our lives, we are able to point these individuals to Him.  Then by His grace they are able to be restored and then healed just as we have been through His process of justification, sanctification and glorification.  Let us live a life that points to His glory and thank Him for this process that heals us.

Questions:

1.  Are you grateful for the sanctification process through which the Lord is taking you for your healing?

2.  What area of your life is the Lord presently speaking to you about that needs to be purged?

Prayer: Father, I am not always grateful for Your healing work in my life, but I want to be.  Transform me I pray into the image of Your Son, Jesus and heal my life..  Amen.