“Backsliding is a disease that is exceeding secret in its way of working.”
— Jonathan Edwards
At various points in Jay Higgins’ recent (December 29th) and helpful message from Esther, I was left with the idea of remembering Lot’s wife. She embraced the cultural norms of Sodom so thoroughly that even while the city burned under righteous judgment, she looked back with longing and suffered judgment herself. One of the central themes of the book of Esther is about trusting God and his providence in the midst of a pagan, and at times, very hostile world. This theme and others from Esther will be explored by Jay in Sunday School soon. (Dale is going to teach a couple of Sunday School classes before Jay resumes his teaching.) Presented below is a devotional that Jay has written based on that last sermon:
The book of Esther is an amazing showcase of our great God doing what only he can do for the good of his people and his glory. God is not mentioned one time in the book of Esther, yet his presence and work are on every page and his glory shines bright!
God used Esther to intervene and save her people from being destroyed. They faced physical death and destruction. As of today, the church in America does not yet face this type of threat, yet a cold war is being waged against it, and against Christian families. Satan uses every means available to him to break us, our children, and our families down. Often, we are blind to his tactics, born into a culture where we take our lifestyles and norms for granted. Can we begin to step back and ask some honest questions? Lord, what would you have us do, for our kids’ education, for mine, for my job, our home, the things we invest our time in (or don’t), my family’s media/entertainment habits, our spiritual disciplines?
We cannot afford to write these types of questions off because we think we are unable to do what we are called to. Mordecai warned Esther by saying, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)
If we think that we can spend our lives floating down the river of cultural norms and lifestyles with a little extra morality thrown in and escape with our souls, children, marriages and families intact, we are fooling ourselves. The high percentage of kids that walk away from the church once out of the house is one small proof of this. God is calling us to take action, and we are able to take the action he calls us to because he is sovereign, and he is good. It’s not our job to know the future or how it will all work out. That’s his job. Let’s choose to trust him.
Thank you, Jay, for the challenging words.
Unto Him be glory,
Pastor Dale
