Daily Dose of Hope

March 2, 2025

Day 1 of Week 49

 

Scripture: Esther 7-10; Revelation 3

 

Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are in week 49 of 52!  Good job, everyone.  We have almost read the whole Bible in a year. 

 

Today, our Old Testament reading is finishing the book of Esther.  Let’s start with chapter 7.  Esther was risking her life by approaching the king and she has no idea how the king will react. We know from previous chapters that he is prone to rash, angry decisions. First, the king does not know that she is a Jew. Second, Esther doesn’t know if the king will choose her over Haman, his trusted advisor. If the king chooses to side with Haman, then Esther and her people will be killed.

 

But she must have courage and take the risk–the stakes are too high. God calls all of us to take risks. Let’s hope our risks aren’t quite as scary as Esther’s but they might be! The reality is that the Christian walk was never intended to be comfortable and easy. The Holy Spirit is constantly prompting us to take risks: go talk to that person, volunteer for that organization, reach out to that neighbor, offer to pray with that person over there, give money here...you get the idea. The big question is are we listening and are we obeying?

 

Back to the Scripture...Esther again puts herself out there, asking the king one more difficult thing. The king had decreed that all Jews would be eliminated. Thus, another edict must be made that superseded the previous one. Esther knows this so she pleads with the king to overrule the horrible decree made by Haman so her people could be saved. The king basically allows Esther and Mordecai to create the new decree themselves and hands over his signet ring so they can seal it on behalf of the king. The new decree was strong. It guaranteed that the Jewish people could protect themselves, giving them the right to annihilate and plunder any group who tried to conquer or harm them. It even designated a specific date on which the Jews could attack their enemies.

 

In chapter 8, we read about Mordecai. He has the privilege of delivering the news of the new decree to the Jewish people. By this point, the roles have been totally reversed for Mordecai. No longer does he need to sit by the king’s gate in ash cloth. No longer does he need to worry about his life or the fate of his people. He is the victor, but only because a young queen was willing to do the right thing and risk it all for the sake of her people. What is God calling you to do right now? What excuses are you making? How does this text inspire you to step out in faith?

 

As mentioned, the new decree, written by Esther and Mordecai, allowed the Jewish people a specific day on which to attack their enemies, the 13th of the Jewish month Adar. As you read through chapter 9, you find that is exactly what occurred. The Jewish men assembled and killed thousands of their enemies. Then, on the following day, they rested and feasted.

 

This was the beginning of an annual celebration for the Jews called Purim. Purim means “lots” in ancient Persian. The holiday was thus named since Haman had thrown lots to determine when he would carry out his evil scheme. Purim is still celebrated among devout Jews. On the eve of Purim, they read the book of Esther and then do so again on the following day. There is also much gift-giving. They are to send monetary gifts to at least two poor people and then two food gifts to at least one other person. There is also much feasting and celebrating.

 

I have to admit when I first read about this, it sounded a bit gory. Are they really celebrating the death of all those people? But I had to reframe it. The Jews had been oppressed. They had received a death sentence. And then, they were freed from it. They had the ability to protect their families. They knew God was with them. This was worthy of celebration.

 

Let’s move to the final chapter in Esther.  Not unlike Joseph in an earlier Old Testament text, Mordecai moves from lowly and close to death to the king’s right-hand man. While God isn’t explicitly mentioned, we know that God acted extraordinarily to orchestrate the events of this story.

 

Today’s chapter was short but it gave me pause to reflect on the book of Esther as a whole. What can we learn from this book?

·If you are a Christ-follower, God has a purpose for your life. You exist to love and glorify God AND to demonstrate his love and goodness to the world.

•God didn't make a mistake where he has you today. God put Esther exactly where he needed and wanted her to be. God has you where you need to be as well. How might God want to use you right now?

•Sometimes, living into your purpose means making big, difficult decisions but it is often lived out in the small, everyday decisions of life.

 

Our New Testament text is Revelation 3. Here, John continues to proclaim the visions that Jesus has given him about the churches. Chapter 2 focused on Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira. This chapter addresses the rest of the churches of Asia Minor, including Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Since we focused on the structure and flow of the letters on Thursday, I wanted to highlight the message to one particular church today–Laodicea.

 

I think it is incredibly important for all of us who are part of the American church. Laodicea was a very wealthy city. It was on a main trade route and it had several prosperous industries. It was known for its banking. It was also known for a black dye that it produced which was used to make black wool, quite a luxurious commodity in those days. It also had a respected medical school which developed an eye medicine that was quite sought after.

But despite its wealth, the one really big problem that Laodicea had was lack of a water supply. Its northern neighbor, Hierapolis, had these amazing hot springs. It’s other close neighbor, Colossae, to the east, had a lovely refreshing cold water supply. As a result, Laodicea built an elaborate system to pipe the water from both those places into their city. But by the time it got there, it was not hot, nor cold, but simply lukewarm. Jesus has harsher words for Laodicea than any of the other churches. He says that just like their water, they are lukewarm! Hot water heals, cold water refreshes, but lukewarm water is useless. They are spiritually lukewarm; they are spiritually useless.

 

The thing is that they looked good on the outside. They went through all the motions. They worshiped, read Scripture, and sang hymns. But it was phony piety. Their hearts were far from God. There was no passion for Jesus. And they didn’t even realize this. In fact, because of their wealth and prosperity, they thought they were doing quite well. Largely sheltered from the persecution that other Christian communities in the area experienced, they were free to do as they pleased.

 

And what they were doing was not pleasing to God. They were self-reliant, complacent, lazy, and passionless. Not good traits for a church. But despite their spiritual mess, Jesus loves them and still yearns for them. He stands at the door and knocks, waiting for them to answer it. He wants a real relationship with them. He wants them to be passionate for his love.

 

Think about the American church. Think about our church for that matter. Are we lukewarm? Do we resemble Laodicea. In which ways? I’m not saying this to be critical but because I’m convicted. Do we serve God with passion? Are we simply going through the motions? Have we become stagnant?

 

Rate your passion level based on the following:

-Do you experience joy and excitement in your prayer life?

-Do you read Scripture with expectancy of hearing from the Lord?

-Do you have spiritual conversations with non-Christians?

-Do you actively seek out relationships with non-Christians so you can demonstrate the love of Christ to them?

-Do you look for ways to serve Jesus and reach out to those who are struggling/hurting in our community?

-What’s the last time you felt really excited about your spiritual walk with Jesus?

-As a church, are we passionate about being disciples who make disciples?

 

Are our hearts close to God? I’ll stop there but do take some time to let this all sink in a bit. God wants our whole heart and life, not just some of it. He wants us to be passionate as individual believers and a church.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki