Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Believe it or not, since the first week of August we have been on a journey together and the first major part of this journey concludes this weekend. We’ve called the journey the “Grand Narrative”. We began with Genesis 1 and we’ve followed God’s story chronologically through about 4000 years of documented Biblical history. This weekend we conclude the Old Testament with two, final, significant Biblical stories. Are you ready? Do you think you know them?
The remarkable story of a young Jewish orphan girl who miraculously becomes Queen over the entire Persian Empire, actually fits chronologically in the white space in your Bible between Ezra chapter 6 & 7, did you know that? Also, did you know that the name of God is not mentioned, even once, in the entire story of Esther, yet the miraculous, powerful, sovereign work of God is seen throughout this amazing story of orphan Hadassah who was given the name Esther; her uncle Mordecai who raised her as his own daughter; and evil Haman who was determined to accomplish the world-wide annihilation of all Jews.
You may know this remarkable story results in God miraculously protecting His Jewish people, and that event is celebrated each year by Jews around the world today. The day of that celebration is called “Purim” in recognition of the fact that the lot was cast to choose a date on which every Jew in the Persian kingdom would be killed. Yet as a result of God’s amazing guidance of the lives of Esther and Mordecai, and God preventing the Persian King from sleeping one night, the king discovered truth about Mordecai having saved his life, which in turn saved the lives of millions of Jews!
While the name of God is not mentioned, the evidence of God’s involvement in every aspect of the story is unmistakable and challenges us to look for what I call the ‘fingerprints’ of God in our lives.
It’s a tremendous part of God’s “Grand Narrative” and as you read Esther, take great comfort that God watches over your life and mine with just much interest, and God often intervenes without us initially recognizing that God is working to accomplish His great purposes for His glory and our good!
The other great story which brings the Old Testament to a close is the heroic leadership of a humble Jewish servant, Nehemiah, a cupbearer to the most powerful man in the world at that time, the Persian Emperor, King Artaxexerxes. Once again Nehemiah models for us the importance of humility, patience, alertness to information, a great faith in God and an AVAILABILITY to God for HIS involving of us, in what HE is doing, to accomplish His purposes in our world.
Now friends, I know I often say that God is working in our world through His available people, but I wonder if you believe it? And do you see yourself as a candidate for God inviting you into what He is doing, so He can accomplish His purposes through you? It’s a staggering concept when you really fully engage your mind and life into working with God!
I know it changed my life, my marriage, my family and my world view when I embraced the concept and made myself fully available to God anytime, anywhere for anything HE wanted to do! So I challenge you to consider Nehemiah as another great example, and an invitation for you to do the same.
Nehemiah was serving the king in Susa, the Persian kingdom capital, about 800 miles from Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a descendant, we presume, of Jews who were among those taken from Jerusalem as captives, many years before, during the three invasions of King Nebuchadnezzar. Nehemiah’s brother had evidently recently visited Jerusalem and brought Nehemiah a fresh report. While Jerusalem was being rebuilt by returned Jewish exiles, and the great Temple had already been rebuilt and was functioning well, the great protective wall around the city was nothing but the rubble left untouched since it was demolished by Nebuchadnezzar’s army nearly 150 years before.
But Nehemiah was a cupbearer servant, of course there was nothing he could possibly do to help the situation, could he? I wonder if Nehemiah knew the story of the orphan Jewish girl who became Queen of the land? Is it possible Nehemiah had even met her since Esther’s miraculous rise to power had happened only about 40 years before? Nehemiah had only one thing he knew he could do… PRAY, earnestly pray bringing the situation to God and inviting God to use him somehow to make a difference!
You’ll find that powerful story in Nehemiah 1. Nehemiah prayed for four months, and God worked in the king’s heart giving the king a desire to see that wall rebuilt so the people living in Jerusalem would have the protection of a great city wall.
Nehemiah’s remarkable adventure begins in chapter 2 as King Artaxerxes gives Nehemiah a leave of absence from his palace job and commissions Nehemiah to lead the huge project of rebuilding the city wall! But Nehemiah was not given permission or resources to hire a wall building general contractor nor an army of wall builders. Nehemiah was led by God to call the Jewish exiles living in Jerusalem to first clean up the rubble and then rebuild the wall themselves, stone by stone, starting with the portion of the wall immediately closest to their home!
If you’ve ever faced a leadership challenge, Nehemiah chapters 3 & 4 might be a blueprint for you and your next leadership opportunity!
While we don’t know the exact size of the city of Jerusalem at that time, we know the wall, which had been demolished 150 years before, surrounded a very large Jerusalem and based on Nehemiah 7:2 I conclude Nehemiah may well have rebuilt the wall on the very same foundation, leaving lots of room for future population growth! Despite great opposition described in chapter 5, God enabled the people to work and defend themselves at the same time. Archeologists tell us this city wall may have been up to 30 feet high and perhaps 10 feet thick, yet with God’s empowerment, and Nehemiah’s leadership, the people accomplished this remarkable feat in 52 days! (Nehemiah 6:15)
This great statement summarizes the response of all who heard of this miraculous project: “When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their confidence because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.” (Nehemiah 6:16) My friends, would you agree that summarizes what we have witnessed through God’s entire “Grand Narrative” story of the Old Testament?
This is God’s ultimate “Grand Narrative” purpose: to draw a watching world to Himself, helping them understand that there is ONLY One God, the Almighty, Creator, Holy, God of Israel, who is Sovereign over all things, at all times, in all places, and who deeply desires a personal love relationship with every human being HE has created, in every generation, everywhere in the world! You might want to re-read that, my friends!
So, has this God reached to you? And have you responded in great faith believing He is God and believing that He made you and He can forgive your sin? Have you invited God to help you live a God honoring life, involve you in His great purposes TODAY as He continues writing His Grand Narrative in our generation?
Monday we’ll cross over into God’s great story we call the New Testament, making our way toward Christmas and beyond. For this weekend, more study notes are in the Grand Narrative link below and I urge you to find time to read the book of Nehemiah in the link below, as we stand in awe of God’s amazing involvement in our world and our lives, and I’ll see you here on Monday.
Today’s Scripture: Esther & Nehemiah.
Choose below to read.
Nehemiah 1-9Nehemiah 10-13
Nehemiah 10-13 Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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