Pastor's Column 11/1/20

PASTOR’S COLUMN

“When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down to pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.” Esther 3:5-6, NIV

“Then Harbona, one of the eunuch’s attending the king, said, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.” The king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.” Esther 7:9-10, NIV

1st Sunday- “You Don’t Have to Worry!

The rich and accurate history that appears in Scripture also serves as an allegory to what later generations will experience in a world where Solomon says “nothing is new.” We glean from life’s good, bad, and ugly episodes, how God always brings His people back from harm and near destruction. We who, by faith, are the spiritual descendants of the God of Abraham and Sarah, can have full confidence in the fact that evil will never reign triumphant. Lowell said, “Behind the dim unknown, God stands in the shadows caring for His own.” Esther and her elder cousin Mordecai were among the generation of Jewish exiles who lived in Susa, the capital city of Persia. They were tolerated by many, but despised by most. Haman was among the most intolerant. He hated the Jews, and with his elevation to the king’s cabinet, contrived a program of genocide to decimate the Jewish population. The great, 75ft hanging gallows, became the instrument of torture and a symbol of hatred and annihilation. God used Esther to intervene, to save her people from genocide. Haman met his end on the gallows he built for others! However difficult our circumstances, God is inevitably in charge. We should not fret or worry!