Would you be willing to go? Would you raise your hand and say, “I will go and if I perish, I perish”?

Today’s Readings:

Esther 3 & 4
Psalm 89.46-52
Proverbs 22.7-8
Romans 3.1-31

What if God Gave You a Dangerous Assignment?

Esther 3 & 4:

Those Who Belong to the Enemy

Paul warns us in Galatians that those who belong to the enemy will persecute and mistreat God’s children.

But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now (Gal. 4.29).

The devil has always been out to destroy that which God loves. It’s still true today but we see an example of it here in the Book of Esther. The good news is that the sovereign Lord was, is, and always will be in control of the ultimate outcome even when it looks like we have been given a dangerous assignment, are going through tests and trials, or just seem to be living in perilous times.

Here in the book of Esther, because of God’s favor, Esther had become Ahasuerus’ new Queen. You can read more about that in yesterday’s readings. But even as Queen, her right to come into the King’s presence was limited.

Yet, Esther was faced with a problem. Her people were in great danger and her cousin Mordecai had sent her a message to let her know she needed to petition the King on their behalf, a dangerous assignment. In fact, such a bold move could have cost her life.

But Mordecai told Esther, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (v. 4.14) and she responded, “And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (v. 4.16).

Perhaps Mordecai’s words were more of a challenge than a question. Look at the entire verse:

For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Either way, Esther chose to trust in the sovereignty of God even though it was dangerous.

What about you and me? This is the time and place that God has chosen for us to live and where He wants us to bring Him glory (Acts 17.26). This is the family, the spouse, and the nation.

How will you respond if standing up for God or His people could cost your life? Or life as you know it? There are times when we aren’t threatened with physical death, but it might be the risk of losing favor, reputation, career, family relationships, or some other temporal benefit. How would you respond? Would you go? Would you obey?

Jesus said:

23 …If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels (Lk. 9.23-26).

Are we willing to take up our cross and follow Him? Will we say with Esther, “I will go and if I perish, I perish”?

Today’s Other Readings:

Psalm 89.46-52:

Blessed be the Lord

Even after all his laments are poured out, the psalmist said, “Blessed be the LORD forevermore! Amen and Amen.”

Proverbs 22.7-8:

The Slavery of Debt

Verse 7 says, “… the borrower is servant to the lender.” Many of us had to learn that the hard way, but the wisdom to avoid it was always there in His Word.

Romans 3.1-31:

Saved by Grace or Lost & Deluded

Verses 23-26:

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The word translated “justified” is a legal term that means to be declared “righteous.” When we come to the place where we recognize that verse 23 is true of us, and we humbly submit and receive His grace (see “Religion & Christianity: What’s the Difference?”), God justifies us. When God justifies us, it is not only as if we had never sinned, it is as if we had always obeyed perfectly! Such amazing grace!

But in order to be justified, we must come to understand that we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior, that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, and then look to Christ and His sacrificial death on our behalf.

As long as we think we can somehow be good enough, that we don’t need formal religion or we make excuses for not surrendering to God, we will remain helpless, blind, and deluded about our own condition.

Yet, those of us who claim to understand that basic truth—that we were saved by grace alone through faith alone sometimes revert to our own self-righteousness in an attempt to stay in good graces with God.

We need to understand that not only could we do nothing to save ourselves, we can do nothing to keep ourselves saved. Just as we were saved by grace, we are kept by grace.

Verse 27, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded …” We have no right to become puffed up or self-righteous, because even as believers, there is nothing good in us, in and of ourselves. Our righteousness is “in Christ and Christ alone”! That reality should keep us close to the cross and help us remember that it was our sin that put Him there.

Coming Up:

In the coming days, we’ll talk about how to respond when others sin against us, our hope in trials, uncommon friends, and why we should bother living right.

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Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥