What do you do when you are desperate? Seek help.
What do you do when you are desperate and no help is in sight? ...
Being a Christian has an advantage over people who do not believe in any deity. Christians have access to God. This God is the Creator of the universe. Therefore, God is omnipotent. Moreover, this God is willing to build up a relation with mankind. He is good. In our desperate situations, this God is willing to deliver us. He is merciful. That is why Christians have an advantage. But how do they know this? They know this through their own personal experience. Furthermore, they know this through the experience of a people recorded in the Bible. Today, we read of the story of Esther, a Jewish girl made the queen of the Persian king, Artaxerxes the Great aka Ahasuerus.
What do you do when you are desperate and no help is in sight? ...
Being a Christian has an advantage over people who do not believe in any deity. Christians have access to God. This God is the Creator of the universe. Therefore, God is omnipotent. Moreover, this God is willing to build up a relation with mankind. He is good. In our desperate situations, this God is willing to deliver us. He is merciful. That is why Christians have an advantage. But how do they know this? They know this through their own personal experience. Furthermore, they know this through the experience of a people recorded in the Bible. Today, we read of the story of Esther, a Jewish girl made the queen of the Persian king, Artaxerxes the Great aka Ahasuerus.
Queen Vashti shunned the king's invitation to appear before a banquet (Esther 1:12). The king was enraged and with the advice of his counsellors, he abrogated Vashti and chose Esther to replace her (Esther 2:4, 17). Esther was brought up by Mordecai, a Jew who sat at the king's gate. When Mordecai overheard a plot of 2 eunuchs against the king, he passed on the information to Esther and saved the king (Esther 2:21-22). There was a man called Haman whom the king had promoted over all the princes. All the king's servants bowed down before him except Mordecai (Esther 3:1-2). Haman was infuriated and plotted against all the Jews (Esther 3:5-6)! Mordecai sought the help of Esther. Esther was desperate for her life was threatened as well. Who could help her? Esther turned to the Lord God of Israel. Today, we read of her prayer recorded in the Additions to the Book of Esther.
This is how Esther began her prayer.
Lord, thou only art our King; help me, who am alone and have no helper but thee,
for my danger is in my hand (AddEsther 14:3-4).
God knows everything. Esther did not need to explain her situation in details. Neither do we need to. God is close at hand. We only need to call out and God shall answer.
Ever since I was born I have heard in the tribe of my family that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers from among all their ancestors, for an everlasting inheritance, and that thou didst do for them all that thou didst promise (AddEsther 14:5).
God does not need to be reminded. Rather, it is us who need to. Here, Esther remembers the faithfulness of God which her people have experienced and passed on to her. As parents, we have this responsibility to pass on this knowledge of this Saviour God to our children so that in times of difficulties, they may remember to seek help from God.
And now we have sinned before thee, and thou hast given us into the hands of our enemies,
because we glorified their gods. Thou art righteous, O Lord! (AddEsther 14:6-7)
Esther continued to confess the sins of her people, idolatry. She knew that they did not deserve God's help because they had turned away from God. Esther was confident in the faithfulness of God. She knew that God would not abandon them. Then she switched to appeal to the righteousness of God. It is no longer a matter of the survival of her people which was the inheritance of God. Their survival was a testimony of God's faithfulness before all nations, a demonstration of God's sovereignty.
And now they are not satisfied that we are in bitter slavery, but they have covenanted with their idols
to abolish what thy mouth has ordained and to destroy thy inheritance, to stop the mouths of those who praise thee and to quench thy altar and the glory of thy house,
to open the mouths of the nations for the praise of vain idols, and to magnify for ever a mortal king.
O Lord, do not surrender thy scepter to what has no being; and do not let them mock at our downfall; but turn their plan against themselves, and make an example of the man who began this against us.
Remember, O Lord; make thyself known in this time of our affliction, and give me courage, O King of the gods and Master of all dominion! (AddEsther 14:8-12)
God has chosen the Israelites to be His inheritance. This relation means their mutual existence. Israel exists because God exists and God exists because Israel exists. Of course, God can do away with Israel and choose some other peoples. But His existence must somehow be demonstrated by the existence of a Chosen People, be it Israel or any other people on earth. This Chosen People makes known to the world the existence of God. Of course, this is not the only way to prove the existence of God. It is one of the many ways. That is why Ezekiel, a priest turned prophet at the time of Captivity in Babylon, had proclaimed several times that God had delivered the Israelites many times before for the sake of His name (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22, 32). Therefore, we should be confident in the faithfulness of God.
Lord, thou only art our King; help me, who am alone and have no helper but thee,
for my danger is in my hand (AddEsther 14:3-4).
God knows everything. Esther did not need to explain her situation in details. Neither do we need to. God is close at hand. We only need to call out and God shall answer.
Ever since I was born I have heard in the tribe of my family that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers from among all their ancestors, for an everlasting inheritance, and that thou didst do for them all that thou didst promise (AddEsther 14:5).
God does not need to be reminded. Rather, it is us who need to. Here, Esther remembers the faithfulness of God which her people have experienced and passed on to her. As parents, we have this responsibility to pass on this knowledge of this Saviour God to our children so that in times of difficulties, they may remember to seek help from God.
And now we have sinned before thee, and thou hast given us into the hands of our enemies,
because we glorified their gods. Thou art righteous, O Lord! (AddEsther 14:6-7)
Esther continued to confess the sins of her people, idolatry. She knew that they did not deserve God's help because they had turned away from God. Esther was confident in the faithfulness of God. She knew that God would not abandon them. Then she switched to appeal to the righteousness of God. It is no longer a matter of the survival of her people which was the inheritance of God. Their survival was a testimony of God's faithfulness before all nations, a demonstration of God's sovereignty.
And now they are not satisfied that we are in bitter slavery, but they have covenanted with their idols
to abolish what thy mouth has ordained and to destroy thy inheritance, to stop the mouths of those who praise thee and to quench thy altar and the glory of thy house,
to open the mouths of the nations for the praise of vain idols, and to magnify for ever a mortal king.
O Lord, do not surrender thy scepter to what has no being; and do not let them mock at our downfall; but turn their plan against themselves, and make an example of the man who began this against us.
Remember, O Lord; make thyself known in this time of our affliction, and give me courage, O King of the gods and Master of all dominion! (AddEsther 14:8-12)
God has chosen the Israelites to be His inheritance. This relation means their mutual existence. Israel exists because God exists and God exists because Israel exists. Of course, God can do away with Israel and choose some other peoples. But His existence must somehow be demonstrated by the existence of a Chosen People, be it Israel or any other people on earth. This Chosen People makes known to the world the existence of God. Of course, this is not the only way to prove the existence of God. It is one of the many ways. That is why Ezekiel, a priest turned prophet at the time of Captivity in Babylon, had proclaimed several times that God had delivered the Israelites many times before for the sake of His name (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22, 32). Therefore, we should be confident in the faithfulness of God.
Dear Lord, we are sorry for not living up to the name of Christian. You don't need us to manifest Your name. Rather, it is our honour to be Your chosen vessel to glorify Your name. Support us in difficult times to play our parts well. Amen.
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