Vengeance

 Happy Sunday!

"Wicked people are killed by their own evil deeds, and if you hate God's people you will be punished.  The Lord saves the lives of his servants. Run to him for protection, and you won't be punished."(Psalm 34:21-22 CEV).

Last week some of my daily readings were from the Book of Esther.  The Bible fascinates me.  I'm always seeing something new and exciting.  Don't get me wrong, the Bible hasn't changed.  But my revelation of the Word has expanded, or changed.  Long story short, the King in the Book of Esther had a wild drinking party with his boys, he was showing off all of his bling and things.  Then he decided that he'd show off his wife, Vashti too. Esther 1:11 says, "she was fair to look on".  But his wife refused to come.  Some Jewish and Bible Commentators that I read regarding this believe that the king wanted the queen to be brought before the party wearing her royal crown and nothing else. If this is true, then it sheds a whole new light on the incident.  And it might explain why the king sent 7 chamberlains to get the queen(Esther 1:10 KJV).  If she had been asked to come fully clothed would it have required 7 men to go get her? Definitely food for thought.

When she refused to come, his drunken friends encouraged him to get rid of his wife so that she wouldn't set a bad example for the other women by not obeying her husband.  He listened to these dummies, and later regretted what he'd done(Esther 2:1).  So some of his servants realized he was sad, and recommended having a beauty contest to find a new queen for the king.  Esther, a Jewish orphan, reared by her cousin Mordecai won the contest and became the queen. There was an evil man named Haman who hated Modecai, and all the Jewish exiles. The king listened to him and made a law that all the Jews would be killed on a certain day.  The king had no idea his beautiful new queen was also a Jew.  When Esther got word of all this, and realized she wouldn't escape either, she called a fast and risked her life by going in to see the king unannounced.  The king was happy to see her and asked what she wanted up to half of his kingdom. Sadly, the king couldn't change the law, but did add an addendum that allowed the Jews to protect themselves and kill their enemies. The hateful bad guy Haman, was killed on the very gallows he built in anticipation of killing Mordecai.

Romans 12:19 fits perfectly here, "Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. Don’t take the law into your own hands."(Living Bible).  God will always protect us!  He's well aware that everyone won't like us, but He's more than able to bring us out on top!  1 Peter 3:13-16 says, "After all, who in the ordinary way is likely to injure you for being enthusiastic for good? And if it should happen that you suffer “for righteousness’ sake”, that is a privilege. You need neither fear their threats nor worry about them; simply concentrate on being completely devoted to Christ in your hearts. Be ready at any time to give a quiet and reverent answer to any man who wants a reason for the hope that you have within you. Make sure that your conscience is perfectly clear, so that if men should speak slanderously of you as rogues they may come to feel ashamed of themselves for libeling your good Christian behavior."(Phillips).

Love and prayers, Cynthia