Day 13 Reviewed

Nehemiah - Job 20

     Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites (priests) were reading and explaining the law to the people and "translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading," (Nehemiah 8:8). I like this. Not only did they read the law, but they explained it in a was (hopefully) the people could actually grasp it, and do it!
     Well, amazingly enough, when the people went beyond just hearing the law to actually understanding it, they saw their need for God and were moved to repentance! Basically, the law did what it was designed to do -- draw people to repentance and to the heart of God! The people were weeping in repentance.
     "This day is holy to your Lord God," Nehemiah told them, "do not mourn or weep. Go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength," (Nehemiah 8:9-10).
     The proof that they understood was that they actually went and did what they had been told to do! Imagine that! They heard, listened, and obeyed. Momentous.

• Esther

     God's goodness and faithfulness is not dependent on us. His goodness will prevail whether we agree or not. However, if we agree, how much better for us! And so we have Esther. When her uncle, Mordecai, informs her that the fate of her entire nation may be in her hands, what did she think? If it was me, I'll tell you what I would think...
     Now I've never been in her place, obviously. But I have been in a place where I was in a key position to make some sort of change or bring something about in a way no one else really was. It's like that moment when you spot a problem (or someone alerts you to it) and you glance from one side to the other to see who is going to step up and take care of it. Personally, as a former 'don't-make-any-sort-of-waves' kinda girl, I hated the feeling of knowing it was, grr, me.
     Mordecai adds, "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). I know myself. I know I would have been completely annoyed at him. Good thing Esther was queen and not me. She may not have been excited, but she took a deep breath, trusted God, and stepped up.

• Haman 

     A perfect portrait of someone completely not at ease or at peace. Haman was repulsed at the very sight of Mordecai (a Jew) being in the king's court to begin with, purely because of the hatred Haman held in his heart. (Esther 5:13)

• Mordecai

      To make a long story short, Esther saves the Jews, Haman dies in the gallows, and Mordecai, the Jew "was second only to King Ahasuerus and great among the Jews, and in favor with the multitude of his kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation," (Esther 10:3). God's great plan is awesome, and completely un-thwartable :)

• Job

     Quite possibly the oldest book written in the Bible, already dealing with sin, separation, and being at peace with God. I'm still sorting through what I got from Job, but wow, my eyes were definitely opened to some new things!!
      First of all, Job walked as closely to God as he knew how. So when the crud started to hit the fan, he continued to bless the name of God. (Job 1:21, Job 2:10)
     Still, he could feel that something was not right. He didn't feel at ease, there was a separation between him and God, and he didn't like it. "Can mankind be just before God?" (4:17, also 10:7, and 12:4 - very interesting phrasing!)
     Job's friends (everyone always ridicules them), but there responses to Job seem right to me at first (chapter 8). They told him to repent of his sin, and get right with God. Makes sense, I thought.
     But Job knew that it was more than a transgression he had committed (because he willfully had committed none). He knew he was simply guilty. Imperfect before a perfect God. Again he says, "How can a man be in the right before God?" (9:2). It's almost as though he understood the concept of a sin nature long before the concept was presented in history.
     Job did grasp God's sovereignty. He understood that it was by God that anyone ascended to his rightful place, not by man..."He makes counselors walk barefoot, and makes fools of judges. He loosens the bond of kings, and binds their loins with a girdle. He makes priests walk barefoot, and overthrows the secure ones..." (12:16 and on).
     I think it's possible Job knew in his heart that one needed a personal relationship with the living God to be at ease: "O that a man might plead with God as a man with his neighbor!" (16:21).
     And even (by God's spirit?) makes the proclamation, "And as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth," (19:25).
     Pretty insightful stuff from this Job. For now, I conclude that somehow, Job knew that sin (the condition and not just the action) separated us from God, I dare say even beyond the saving power of repentance, people's offerings of sacrifice, and obeying the law.