I'd been reading the Book of Esther from the old testament of the Bible and want to write down some thoughts that came to me. As I'd written some time earlier, I've been walking this walk of faith for a little over 3 years. I've had my ups and downs and continue to have them. But one thing I don't need any convincing of is, there is a God and that God is Jehovah. He is a faithful God who picks me up when I 'm down and restores me when I'm broken.
As I was thinking over the Book of Esther and the character - Mordecai, the Jew (that's how the Bible calls him), I wandered into the Book of Chronicles and happened to read some notes I had written in the margin about King Saul - who was annointed and appointed as the King of Israel by God himself through his prophet Samuel (ref. 1 Samuel 9:17). As I sat in my children's room, our prayer room, these two lives - started streaming by in my mind.
Both King Saul and Mordecai the Jew were from the one and same tribe of Benjamin. One had a great beginning and a lousy end, while the other had a lousy beginning and a great ending. King Saul became arrogant, jealous, self serving and distant from God. There was Saul, the king chosen by God, who consulted a medium when he was in trouble and there was Mordecai the lowly Jew living in exile in Babylon who fasted without food and water when he and all jews were in trouble. The results were quite drastic. We read in the Book of 1 Samuel, chapter 31, King Saul fell on his own sword and took his life to escape from his enemy, while Mordecai's enemy, Haman was hung on the same gallow Haman had prepared to kill Mordecai (ref. Esther 7:10). How the tides had turned for both - for one LIFE and for the other DEATH!
2 Chronicles 10:13 - So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD. He failed to obey the LORD's command, and he even consulted a medium instead of asking the LORD for guidance. So the LORD killed him and turned his kingdom over to David son of Jesse.
Regarding Mordecai, the Bible says in the book of Esther 10:3 - Mordecai the Jew became the prime minister, with authority next to that of King Xerxes himself. He was very great among the jews, who held him in high esteem, because he worked for the good of his people and was a friend at the royal court for all of them.
The Lord rejected King Saul, but exalted Mordecai the Jew. FAITHFULNESS was the key!
This life is so full of treacherous traps that each day, every moment, we need to pray as David prayed in Psalms 139:23-24,
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Mary Mary - Can't Give Up Now
Casting Crowns - Lifesong
Find us Faithful by Steve Green
May God bless you!
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