I’m starting my 2025 reading plan today since the plan is based on one chapter per day, five days per week.

We’re going through the Psalms (and other poetry books), and there’s no better rendition of Psalm 1 than in the Living Bible by Ken Taylor, which came out in the 1970s. Psalm 1 begins with the best definition of mediation you’ll find anywhere:

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow evil men’s advice, who do not hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God. But they delight in doing everything God wants them to, and day and night are always meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely. (Psalm 1.1, 2, TLB)

“Meditating on his laws and thinking about ways to follow him more closely.” That’s our goal as we read the Bible – not more knowledge but better obedience.

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, MSG)

It’s not quite New Year’s Day, but tomorrow is Monday… and a good time to start our reading plan in the Poetry section of the Old Testament: Job – Song of Solomon. Inspired by The Navigators’ 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Plan, June and I designed a plan to get through the entire Bible at that pace over 5 years: one chapter/day, five days/week.

If you want to read the entire Bible in one year, I recommend the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan.

Join us! I don’t promise to write a blog on every chapter, but I will catch some of them, beginning tomorrow with something on Psalm 1. (The plan revolves around the five books into which the Psalms are divided, interspersed with Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.)

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, ESV)

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119.105, ESV)

I’ve encouraged to read Esther for yourself, all the way through in one sitting. Today, I’ll just hit the highlights as we wrap up Esther and our 2024 readings. We saw yesterday that Haman attempted, as happens often, to fight against God by eliminating the people of God. Spoiler alert! Haman loses. How? He’s the most powerful government official in the kingdom and has the ear and trust of the king.

It’s a combination of God working behind the scenes and the faithfulness and creativity of Mordecai and Esther.

First, Haman throws dice to determine the best time for his slaughter of the Jews. What day did the dice choose? A day as far into the future as one can get:

In the first month, the month of Nisan, of the twelfth year of Xerxes, the pur—that is, the lot—was cast under Haman’s charge to determine the propitious day and month. The lot turned up the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. (Esther 3.7, MSG, emphasis mine)

Then Mordecai swings into action challenging Esther to approach the king:

If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this. (Esther 4.14, MSG)

“For such a time as this.” A well-known quote. Esther responds with another well-known quote:

Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. (Esther 4.16, ESV)

“If I perish, I perish.”

But God works behind the scenes again, and the king welcomes Esther. “What do you want?” And instead of telling him, she invites him and Haman to a banquet that she will prepare. And at that banquet, she invites them to a second banquet for the following day:

“Get Haman at once,” said the king, “so we can go to dinner with Esther.” So the king and Haman joined Esther at the dinner she had arranged. As they were drinking the wine, the king said, “Now, what is it you want? Half of my kingdom isn’t too much to ask! Just ask.” Esther answered, “Here’s what I want. If the king favors me and is pleased to do what I desire and ask, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the dinner that I will fix for them. Then I’ll give a straight answer to the king’s question.” (Esther 5.6 – 8, MSG)

Haman is ecstatic except Mordecai’s presence still bothers him. So his wife counsels him to build a gallows 75 feet high and hang Mordecai on it. Great idea! In the meantime…

That night the king couldn’t sleep. He ordered the record book, the day-by-day journal of events, to be brought and read to him. They came across the story there about the time that Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh—the two royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance and who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. (Esther 6.1, 2, MSG)

God working behind the scenes again, and just as the king finds out that nothing has been done to honor Mordecai for saving the king’s life, Haman appears to ask permission to hang Mordecai – what a great story!

The king said, “Is there anybody out in the court?” Now Haman had just come into the outer court of the king’s palace to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had built for him. The king’s servants said, “Haman is out there, waiting in the court.” “Bring him in,” said the king. When Haman entered, the king said, “What would be appropriate for the man the king especially wants to honor?”

Haman thought to himself, “He must be talking about honoring me—who else?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, do this: Bring a royal robe that the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown on its head. Then give the robe and the horse to one of the king’s most noble princes. Have him robe the man whom the king especially wants to honor; have the prince lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!’ ”

“Go and do it,” the king said to Haman. “Don’t waste another minute. Take the robe and horse and do what you have proposed to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the King’s Gate. Don’t leave out a single detail of your plan.” (Esther 6.4 – 10, MSG)

Oops. It’s downhill for Haman after that. Before the day is over, the king hangs him on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. (See Esther 6.11 – 7.10)

God wins. God always wins. The Jews defend themselves on the day they were supposed to be destroyed, and the book ends:

Mordecai the Jew ranked second in command to King Xerxes. He was popular among the Jews and greatly respected by them. He worked hard for the good of his people; he cared for the peace and prosperity of his race. (Esther 10.3, MSG)

God wins. God always wins. Sometimes through God’s work behind the scenes. Sometimes (often!) through people he has placed “for such a time as this,” people whose attitude is, “If I perish, I perish.”

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12.11, ESV)

As we think of Christmas as an act of war – God invading the planet in the person of Jesus – we remind ourselves, it’s been war since Genesis 3.15:

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (ESV)

And so it’s no surprise that there’s war against God’s people in the book of Esther. The instigator is Haman the Agagite:

Some time later, King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, making him the highest-ranking official in the government. All the king’s servants at the King’s Gate used to honor him by bowing down and kneeling before Haman—that’s what the king had commanded. Except Mordecai. Mordecai wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t bow down and kneel. (Esther 3.1 – 2, MSG)

Why wouldn’t Mordecai bow to Haman? There weren’t supposed to be any Agagites! King Saul was sent to thoroughly destroy the Amalekites, recorded in 1 Samuel 15. But he didn’t do it:

Saul defended himself. “What are you talking about? I did obey GOD. I did the job GOD set for me. I brought in King Agag and destroyed the Amalekites under the terms of the holy ban. So the soldiers saved back a few choice sheep and cattle from the holy ban for sacrifice to GOD at Gilgal—what’s wrong with that?” (1 Samuel 15.20, 21, MSG, emphasis mine)

Back to Esther. Mordecai won’t bow, and Haman wants revenge:

When Haman saw for himself that Mordecai didn’t bow down and kneel before him, he was outraged. Meanwhile, having learned that Mordecai was a Jew, Haman hated to waste his fury on just one Jew; he looked for a way to eliminate not just Mordecai but all Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. (Esther 3.5, 6, MSG)

And the battle is on. We’ll see God at work through Esther and behind the scenes. Stay tuned.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6.12, ESV)

It’s becoming an annual tradition to include “An Act of War,” written by Tim Lewis, the son of longtime friends Bruce and Elena Lewis, among the Christmas Ewellogies. You can read the lyrics below with or without Tim’s excellent recording. The lyrics line up perfectly with Christmas Eve’s excerpts of Eugene Peterson’s meditations on Revelation. I present Tim’s song without further comment:

Stanza 1

We sing about a silent night, When everything was calm and bright, And the Holy Child Was lying in the manger.

The shepherds share the angel’s joy, And come to see the baby boy And in this happy glow, We miss the danger.

For fallen priests and wrathful kings Are threatened by the light He brings Ruthless men Who claim to be divine.

For centuries they’ve killed His prophets, But now in keeping with His promise The Son of God Has stepped across the line.

Refrain

And it was an act of war, A beachhead in the night Upon earth’s darkened shores, A glimmer of the light.

As the drums of Heaven pound With the heart of the Father, That the lost ones shall be found And restored as sons and daughters.

And the kings, they draw their swords, As the ancient dragon roars, And the battle begins on a stable floor. In Bethlehem – It was an act of war!

Stanza 2

And this is how love fought to save us, Not to conquer and re-enslave us, He reaches for the hearts And not the crowns of earth.

For swords and soldiers cannot mend us, His light must kindle deep within us, So God’s own Son Lies in the arms of a peasant girl.

And who are we that He should love rebels in the graves we’ve dug? In shame we’ve turned away from Him And closed the door.

But now the very God whom we’ve defied Has sent His Son to testify That ruined hearts Are still worth fighting for!

Refrain

And it was an act of war, A beachhead in the night Upon earth’s darkened shores, A glimmer of the light.

As the drums of Heaven pound With the heart of the Father, That the lost ones shall be found And restored as sons and daughters.

And the kings, they draw their swords, As the ancient dragon roars, And the battle begins on a stable floor. In Bethlehem – It was an act of war!

Stanza 3

And as He grew, He fought the lies, Exposed the hypocrite’s disguise, And showed the mercy of the Father To the poor He taught.

Many saw His light, but they loved the darkness, His words exposing where their heart was, Yet He gave His life, a sacrifice To win the lost.

And the battle fought on Christmas Day Still rages in our world today, The light still shines –  The darkness shall not overcome.

So light your lamp, and do not fear To spread His light to captives here; We follow His example ‘Till the battle’s done!

Final Refrain

And it was an act of war, A beachhead in the night Upon earth’s darkened shores, A glimmer of the light.

As the drums of Heaven pound With the heart of the Father, That the lost ones shall be found And restored as sons and daughters.

Amazing love, how can it be That You would go to war for me, And give Your life to set me free In spite of my hostility.

Now my heart is sworn To the Savior born In Bethlehem – It was an act of war!

“Act of War” lyrics and music are copyright© 2019 by Tim Lewis. Please share this song and video, but don’t remove the copyright info.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron… (Revelation 12.1 – 5, ESV)

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. (Luke 2.1 – 16, ESV)

Christmas Day is tomorrow, and it’s a good time to start reminding ourselves of the real nature of Jesus’ birth as recorded in Revelation 12.

Eugene Peterson’s meditation on Revelation, Reversed Thunder, describes the scene in his usual eloquence beginning on page 119. Here are some excerpts:

The immediate consequence of the birth is not Christmas carols but a great war spread across the heavens.

He is referring to Revelation 12.7 – 12:

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Peterson goes on:

This is not the nativity story we grew up with, but it is the nativity story all the same. Jesus’ birth excites more than wonder, it excites evil: Herod, Judas, Pilate. Ferocious wickedness is goaded into violence by this life. Can a swaddled infant survive the machines of terror?

…

It is St. John’s Spirit-appointed task to supplement the work of St. Matthew and St. Luke so that the nativity cannot be sentimentalized into coziness, nor domesticated into drabness, nor commercialized into worldliness…It is St. John’s genius to take Jesus in a manger, attended by shepherds and wise men and put him in the cosmos attacked by a dragon. The consequence to our faith is that we are fortified against intimidation. Our response to the nativity cannot be reduced to shutting the door against a wintry world, drinking hot chocolate and singing Christmas carols. Rather, we are ready to walk out the door with, as one Psalmist put it, high praises of God in our throats and two-edged swords in our hands. (Psalm 149.6)

We’ll continue the warfare perspective after Christmas.

As we move into Christmas week (and Esther will get worked in, stay tuned!), let’s continue yesterday’s meditation on love…

One nice thing about the Christmas season is the number of Christmas musical specials on television. We don’t see too many, but we caught about half of the Tabernacle Choir’s concert, which included a short play about Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables. The book To Love Is To Act by Marva A. Barnett could have been a source for that play. The concert’s play closes with:

“To love is to act”— “Aimer, c’est agir.” – Victor Hugo, written three days before his death

Here is the description of the book:

To love is to act”— “Aimer, c’est agir.”  These words, which Victor Hugo wrote three days before he died, epitomize his life’s philosophy. His love of freedom, democracy, and all people—especially the poor and wretched—drove him not only to write his epic Les Misérables but also to follow his conscience. We have much to learn from Hugo, who battled for justice, lobbied against slavery and the death penalty, and fought for the rights of women and children. In a series of essays that interweave Hugo’s life with Les Misérables and point to the novel’s contemporary relevance, To Love Is to Act explores how Hugo reveals his guiding principles for life, including his belief in the redemptive power of love and forgiveness.

No further comment is needed.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3.16 – 18, ESV)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. (Luke 4.18, ESV)

We talk about love all the time and often refer to 1 Corinthians 13.4 – 8 as a good description. But I like this list from Colossians:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with

• compassion,
• kindness,
• humility,
• gentleness and
• patience.
• Bear with each other and
• forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
• And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3.12 – 14, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

Here’s what I shared with the bride and groom at a wedding I performed recently:

You all clean up pretty well! But there will be another day, maybe next week or next month, when he commits a husband error. At that time, new bride, that’s when we need to “bear with each other” and “forgive one another” and “put on love.”

Doesn’t she look great! And isn’t she happy? There will be another day…when she will be down about something or worried about something or out of sorts for whatever reason. On that day, new husband, she will need your compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience. And yes, your love.

I went on to tell them…

Weddings are easy and fun and short. Marriages are hard, sometimes not so much fun, and long. I pray that you will take to heart Colossians 3.12 – 14, written to all of us, but especially applicable in the dailyness of marriage:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Amen.

We’re moving through Esther, a story of God’s protection for his people. To put a new queen in place to counteract the forces of evil, God had to first get rid of the old queen. Then the king’s counselors kick in again:

The king’s young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: “Let’s begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king’s eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti.” The king liked this advice and took it. (Esther 2.2 – 4, MSG)

(It’s interesting that the advisors in chapter 1 were the oldest, wisest men in the kingdom. In chapter 2, it’s his “young attendants.”)

And so we meet the protagonists of our story: Esther and Mordecai:

Now there was a Jew who lived in the palace complex in Susa. His name was Mordecai…His ancestors had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles and carried off with King Jehoiachin of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into exile. Mordecai had reared his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her. When the king’s order had been publicly posted, many young girls were brought to the palace complex of Susa and given over to Hegai who was overseer of the women. Esther was among them. (Esther 2.5 – 8, MSG)

Again, God at work behind the scenes. She finds favor with Hegai, who was in charge of the harem:

Hegai liked Esther and took a special interest in her. Right off he started her beauty treatments, ordered special food, assigned her seven personal maids from the palace, and put her and her maids in the best rooms in the harem. Esther didn’t say anything about her family and racial background because Mordecai had told her not to. (Esther 2.9, 10, MSG)

It’s worth a pause here to talk about “purity.” We frequently read stories of Christians refusing to do this or that because it violates their beliefs “You can’t make me deliver mail on Sunday!” Do we ever stop to think about what Esther is being asked to do? Be part of the harem of a pagan king?! Instead of loudly proclaiming her Jewishness and obstinately refusing to have her virginity violated, she hides her Jewishness and submits to the process…and wins the contest:

When it was Esther’s turn to go to the king, … she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of the king’s reign. The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins—he was totally smitten by her. He placed a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. (Esther 2.15 – 17, MSG)

Chapter 2 ends with a seemingly irrelevant event which will become important later in the story:

On this day, with Mordecai sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had it in for the king and were making plans to kill King Xerxes. But Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, who then told King Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. When the thing was investigated and confirmed as true, the two men were hanged on a gallows. This was all written down in a logbook kept for the king’s use. (Esther 2.21 – 23, MSG)

God’s queen is in place. We meet the villain in chapter 3.

For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another. (Psalm 75.6, 7, NKJV)