I Am Proud of You

My friend Melissa from Colorado sent me this YouTube video. Please take the time to watch the full 5 and a half minutes. While you do, please pray for our service men and women and their families who are sacrificing for the sake of my freedom and yours. My brother-in-law is on active duty in the Navy, and I am so grateful for his faithfulness and commitment to our country. He makes me proud to be an American! Love you, Mike!

Esther 1-4, 7-8

The story of Esther is very familiar to many of you. It was even more interesting to me as I read through it this week, however, in light of the chronological study we are doing. It was interesting to think that Esther and Mordecai's struggles in the Persian city of Susa were going on about the same time Ezra and Nehemiah were trying to motivate the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

The other item that jumped off the page at me is in reference to what we have learned about the laws of the Persian kings. Our recent discussions about the reasons King Darius did not repeal the law about throwing Daniel into the lions den make me totally amazed at the courage of Esther in today's reading. Every other time I have read this story, I looked at Esther as someone who had to work up enough courage to invite the king to a banquet. Like you and I have trouble deciding if we should invite our boss to dinner or not because we don't want to look like we want to be the class favorite. Now I understand that Esther was putting her very life on the line! To ask the king to change an edict was to ask him to impale you on a tree!

I am so impressed with Mordecai's support and encouragement to his niece. Esther needed reassurance that she was called by God "for such a time as this." Can you imagine the torment they all went through as they fasted and prayed those three days? I like Esther's attitude, "If I perish, I perish." We have to come to that place in our faith walk. We have to realize that nothing else in this world matters except fulfilling the calling God has placed on our lives.

So, do you know what that calling is for you? Have you fasted and prayed until God showed you His vision for how you fit into His Kingdom?

My God-given calling is to Glorify the LORD! And the second part is to invite others to join me! Will you come and glorify the LORD with me? Can we exalt His Name together?? I am willing to do this no matter the cost. I would be so grateful if you would join me!!!

Zechariah 1-2

"Return to me," declares the LORD Almighty, "and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "Do not be like your fathers. . . they would not listen or pay attention to me," declares the LORD. (Zechariah 1:3, 4)

"And I myself will be a wall of fire around [Jerusalem]," declares the LORD, "and I will be its glory within." (Zechariah 2:5)

"Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD." (Zechariah 2:10)

"Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling." (Zechariah 2:13)

Everything taking place in our world today points to the return of Jesus to this earth. Am I ready to take a stand for Christ? Are you ready? Are your friends and relatives ready?

Haggai 1-2

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." (Haggai 1:5-6)

Wow! I can certainly identify with that! Never enough. Is that how your life feels sometimes? I just received our income tax bill; so we are feeling like our wages are in a purse with holes in it. Don't even ask us about our retirement accounts. Wish we could count those losses as expenses on our tax return!

"You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away." (Haggai 1:9a) This is the story of my financial life. Is it yours? I must confess I am a hoarder by nature. I want to save as much money as possible, and I never feel like I have enough in the savings account. I'm not always sure what I am saving it for, but it makes me feel secure to have money in the bank for emergencies. I know some people who never feel like they have enough money in the checking account. They are not always certain what they plan to spend it on, but they can always think of something. We expect much, but it turns out to be little. Why? Let's read on.

"Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house." (Haggai 1:9b) Haggai was speaking to the people who had returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. The king had granted them permission to return so that they could rebuild the temple. However, they were instead "busy with their own houses." This describes our lives, doesn't it? I am certainly guilty of spending all my time making sure my own house is in order to the neglect of God's Kingdom business.

God goes on to describe all the blessings He withheld from the land due to the disobedience of the people. What blessings am I missing in my life because of disobedience to God's calling?

In Chapter 2, God asked the people to remember the former splendor of the temple and compare it to the ruins before them. Then He told them to get to work because He would be with them. (v. 4) Then God reminded the people, "The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." (v. 8, 9) Everything I need belongs to the LORD Almighty. All He asks of me is to be about His business.

"From this day on I will bless you." (Haggai 2:19c)

Ezra 3, 6-7

"Despite their fear of the peoples around them. . . ." (Ezra 3:3a) I'm impressed. Even though the Israelites were being persecuted, they persisted in worshipping God. Last week I visited a friend in the hospital, and I was impressed with one of the hospital staff who came to check on my friend. Before leaving the room, the staff member said, "God bless you. I'll be praying for you today." This staff member did not know any of the three people who were standing around visiting the patient. Yet the person spoke up and did not shy away from expressing a firm faith in God. Would you do that if you didn't know anybody in the room? Would I do that? As Americans we are very weak in our faith, and it takes very little persecution to dissuade us. In fact, many of us won't speak up at work because "they" might not like it. Who are "they" anyway?


"When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, . . . No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away." (Ezra 3:10a, 13) That's the kind of worship service I want to be a part of!!!!


Okay, Ezra 6 will help us answer the questions we had when we read Daniel 6. (Why didn't Darius just change his decree so that Daniel wouldn't have to be thrown to the lions?) You see, Persian kings were looked to as gods, and whatever they decreed was law, and there was no changing that law. They even attached death penalties to the decrees stating no one could change the law without extreme punishment. In Ezra 6 Darius, in the second year of his reign, decreed that the temple in Jerusalem would be rebuilt. "Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be lifted up and impaled on it. And for this crime his house is to be made a pile of rubble." (Ezra 6:11) He was serious! If I have my dates right, the Daniel 6 story took place after the Ezra 6 story. If Darius made such a big deal about a decree in Jerusalem, he sure couldn't go back on his word concerning a decree in Babylon.

Another interesting thing I learned about the kings of Persia was that they were known for rebuilding temples in the lands they had conquered. They were polytheistic and wanted to appease any gods who lived in the lands. They would ask the people of the land to "pray for the well-being of the king and his sons." (Ezra 6:10b) This is a good reminder to us in our day that God can use pagan rulers to advance His kingdom. God is still in control.

Ezra was a living testimony of the power of God. He was sent on a mission by God, and God paved the way for him. Take a look at these verses from Ezra 7, "The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him. For the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. Whatever the God of heaven has prescribed, let it be done with diligence for the temple of the God of heaven. Praise be to the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king's heart to bring honor to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem in this way and who has extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the king's powerful officials. Because the hand of the LORD my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me." (v. 6b, 9b, 10, 23, 27-28)

Do you know any pastors or missionaries for whom you could pray these verses? In place of Ezra, insert the name of the pastor or missionary. Pray that God would encourage them to gather leaders to help in the ministry to which God has called them.

I'm Confused

Now we have come to the books of the Bible written during the time of the restoration of Jerusalem. The timeline of these books is confusing to me, which is one of the reasons I started this chronological study of the Bible in the first place. So I hope you will bear with me as I try to sort it all out in my mind. I also pray you will correct me if I am wrong and that you will post a comment if you discover something different in your own research.

Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. This is where the story of Daniel begins. The book of Ezekiel was also written during the Babylonian exile. In 539 B.C. (remember year numbers get smaller until the time of Christ) Babylon fell to Persia under the rule of Cyrus. The book of Ezra begins this way, “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing.” Cyrus proclaimed that the temple of the God of heaven would be rebuilt in Jerusalem and that any one of his people who wanted to go would be allowed to return to Jerusalem. This initiated the restoration of Israel.

Jewish tradition accredits Ezra as the author of the books of I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. I have always wondered why we have the books of I & II Kings and I & II Chronicles. The notes in my NIV Study Bible state that the Chronicler utilized the writings of Samuel, Kings, the Pentateuch, Judges, Ruth, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Zechariah to compile a history of Israel and Judah. Ezra was preserving the history of the Hebrew people even during the exile! Did you know that Ezra and Nehemiah were originally written as one book? Later it was broken into I Ezra and II Ezra.

Ezra 4:6 mentions the reign of Xerxes, the king who married Esther. Ezra 5:1 mentions the prophets Haggai and Zechariah.

So, if I understand correctly, the actual chronological order of these books would be as follows:

I & II Chronicles (these books were written later, but the events happened before the exile)
Daniel
Ezekiel
Ezra
Esther
Haggai
Zechariah
Nehemiah

These people were all alive at the same time! My confusion over the timing occurs because of the order in which these books appear in our modern day Bibles. The books of I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are listed with the books of Old Testament History. Ezekiel and Daniel are listed with the Major Prophets (the long books of prophecy), and Haggai and Zechariah are listed with the Minor Prophets (the short books of prophecy).

You may read this and wonder, “What was the point?” I am just trying to fit the puzzle pieces together in my brain. Thanks for being patient with me.

Daniel 6

Daniel in the Lions Den--I love this story, don't you?! Okay, so I love the whole book of Daniel . . . because good triumphs over evil again and again. Please take the time to click the link at the beginning of this paragraph and re-read this story for yourself. Take time to notice details you have not paid attention to before.

One thing that really jumps off the page at me is the jealousy the other administrators had toward Daniel. As far as we know, Daniel had been a man of integrity, and he had worked his way to the top through much patience. He had endured the reign of about six different kings. (See timeline)

He had earned his position. Yet the other guys were green with envy. It makes me reflect on times when I have viewed the success of others with a jealous heart. Was I mean, bitter, and caniving toward these people? I can also think of times when I have been the victim of jealous gossip. It should make us stop and think about our words, thoughts, and actions. Don't you think?

Verse 10 is priceless. "Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before." The government's actions did not affect Daniel's commitment to worship God one little bit!

Can you imagine the predicament in which King Darius found himself? The king planned to give Daniel a great deal of authority. He did not want to have Daniel killed. Yet, the king had signed a law, and he could not set the precedent of repealing decrees to show favoritism. He would have been inundated with future requests. (More on this topic when we study the book of Ezra.)

Instead, both King Darius and Daniel were given the opportunity to demonstrate great faith in the living God. "For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." (vs. 26-27) Can you imagine the celebration Daniel and the other Hebrews had? I imagine King Darius threw a huge party in their honor. We know the lions feasted heartily on the administrators and their families.

I love it when the good guys win! Now, let's just make sure we are on the right side of justice.

Our next set of readings covers Ezra 3, 6-7, Haggai, and Zechariah 1-2. Do you think you could push me to finish the Old Testament before Easter?? I wish!

Daniel 5

Please read the story in Daniel 5 before reading the blog.

Wake up, Belshazzar! Did you not pay attention to the stories of your ancestor Nebuchadnezzar? His life was a living testimony to the fact that God is able to humble “those who walk in pride.” (Daniel 4:37) As I read Belshazzar’s story, I was reminded how crucial it is to be intentional as we hand down our faith to our children and to our children’s children. In Daniel 5:18-21, Daniel recounts Nebuchadnezzar’s story of being humbled by God, and in verse 22, he says that Belshazzar already “knew all this.” Yet, Belshazzar “set himself up against the Lord of heaven.” (v. 23)

Where was the disconnect? If Belshazzar actually knew of the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s fall from glory, why did he choose to disregard it? Why did the queen mother have to tell Belshazzar to “call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means?” (v. 12) Unfortunately, Belshazzar “knew about” this all-powerful God, but his family had not helped Belshazzar “know” this God personally. It cost him his life.

What am I doing to help my children meet God face-to-face? When my family encounters the God of the universe, I do not want them to react as Belshazzar did in verse 6. “His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.” I must train my children to “honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.” (v. 23) I want my family to be very familiar with the truth of the Bible because they have read it for themselves. I want my family to be very comfortable talking to Jesus because they pray to Him daily. I want my family to be filled with the Holy Spirit’s power because they worship Him regularly.

Lord God, you do hold my life in your hand. Help me be a living example of your truth to my children.