Reversal of Destinies

Today is Bible study day and I've just finished up Week 8, Day 5 of Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman by Beth Moore. This study has been fascinating to me because it was a book that had rarely been cracked in all of the Bibles that line my shelf. I love how the pages of this book look worn and well-read having come this far in the study.

Don't get me wrong. We are wise not to study God's Word or a Bible study written by man or woman just to gain more knowledge. We could be the most knowledgable people in the entire universe and still miss knowing the Living Word! If at the end of our time studying a particular book or subject matter our hearts are still in the same shape than when we came, our time was wasted.

The living and active, energizing and life-changing Word, breathed by God Himself, is to be our very life. Never look again at the Bible that you hold in your hand as merely a book. It is God's very Word spoken to the depths of your dry and weary soul. It is God's message to His people and through it, God makes Himself known to His people -- providing a lamp to where they find their feet standing right now and illuminating the next step to be taken.

In Esther 8, because God's providence still ruled in a book of the Bible that never mentions His precious Name, the jews living in Susa saw their circumstances reversed. Once a people who only 10 weeks earlier had found themselves in a pit of despair because it seemed that their fate had been sealed by a cruel man who had been all too persuasive to a weak king.

But God...

He has the final word and he turned their mourning into celebration, their weeping into joy, their fasting into celebration and feasting and their wailing into gladness. They now found that Providence had stepped in and reversed their destiny.

And God...

...will do the same for you!

Where in your life do you need the hand of a powerful and mighty to save God to reach down from on high, lift you out of a pit of despair and turn your mourning into dancing? Ask Him for a great reversal of what appears to be your destiny. If you are suffering, ask Him to bring relief. If you are in a pit of sadness, ask Him to bring you joy and even happiness!

Reversing what appears to be your reality and destiny is why Jesus came.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:17-21 NIV)

Blessings,
Dori