Series: Shaped by Environment
Message: Personal
Preacher: Jessyka Albert
Daily Walk: Jessyka Albert
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 73:4-9.
Read: Esther 8-10 (NIV). As you read the New International Version, note 1-3 insights.
Reflect: Once the violence of chapter nine subsides, we are introduced to the feast of Purim. This was a time of celebration to allow the Jews to remember how they had overcome their enemies. It was a reminder of how their mourning had turned into joy. They would send food and gifts to one another and to the poor. The command to celebrate Purim was not only written down to be remembered, but it was lived out and honored in the lives of the Jews.
On May 8, 1945, a long and brutal war came to an end in Europe. There was celebrating, laughing, crying. Soldiers rejoiced at the knowledge that they would soon be home with their loved ones. No one likes war. I find it hard to believe that the Jews of Esther's time enjoyed those days of violence any more than the people who lived through World War II did, but when the violence was finally over and they had rid themselves of their enemy, it makes sense why they would celebrate. They had faced death themselves and now the curtain of darkness had been lifted.
“So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants" (Esther 9:28).
If you were to take a moment and look back on your life, I’m sure you would recall many times in which God has turned your sorrow into joy; times when he has brought the story full circle. Purim celebrates and remembers through the generations everything that God had done for his people.
So how do we model the feast of Purim in our own lives? When God takes us from a dark place and delivers us into light, how do we celebrate that?
When we look to Jesus on the cross and the sa
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for a heart that remembers God’s deliverance in your life.
Research: Google images of “The Day the War Ended.”